Aficionados of Star Wars, Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica know that the words “ferfek”, “grozit” and “frak” are not to be used in polite company.
The notion that the sounds in such words, phonemes, contribute to their offensiveness itself transgresses the fundamental linguistic principle that there is no relationship between the way that words sound and their meaning.
For example, there is nothing window-like about the word window, and it is named with completely different sounds in other languages, from fenêtre in French to shubak in Arabic.

Join Dr. Shiri Lev-Ari on a journey around the world’s languages, showing you what characterises the sounds of swear words and which languages have more words whose sounds express their meaning, and why. And also how the belief that the sounds of certain words express their meaning can go very wrong.

Dr. Shiri Lev-Ari

Dr. Shiri Lev-Ari is a cognitive scientist studying language from a social perspective. She is particularly interested in how language evolution is shaped by the social needs of the society. She holds a PhD from The University of Chicago and is currently a lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Presentations take place upstairs in the Nightingale Room at the Grand Central, opposite Brighton Station.

• DOORS OPEN: 7pm

• TALK STARTS: 7:30pm

• Talk is followed by a short break and an audience Q&A