Why Do Languages Have Nouns and Verbs?
A presentation by Matthew S. Dryer, SUNY-Buffalo
Monday, October 24, 2016 · 4 - 5 PM
The Department of Modern Languages, Linguistics and Intercultural Communications cordially invites you to attend a lecture by Dr. Matthew S. Dryer, Professor of Linguistics at the State University of New York at Buffalo at 4 pm Monday, October 24, in Fine Arts 459.
The title of the talk is "Why Do Languages Have Nouns and Verbs?", and is sponsored by the UMBC Eminent Scholar Mentor Program.
Most if not all languages make a grammatical distinction between nouns and verbs. The traditional view is that this distinction is based on semantics, nouns denoting things and verbs denoting events. I argue that the distinction is not based on semantics but in the way different types of words pattern in discourse.
See the flyer attached for more information.
