Public Lecture Series

Public Lecture/Discussion - 2 November 2011

A public lecture/discussion was held on 2 November by Professor. Margaret Deuchar, Predur Davies, and Marika Fusser at 'Y Galeri', Caernarfon. The title of the lecture/discussion was "Cymunedau Dwyieithog Y Byd" ("Bilingual Communities Of The World") . This event was part of the "ESRC Festival Of Social Science".

Please click on the following to view :

The advertising poster, a report about the exhibition, the posters at the exhibition, and Prof. Deuchar and Peredur Davies' presentation: "Cymunedau Dwyieithog Y Byd / Bilingual Communities of The World".

Click the following links to view pictures taken during the lecture/discussion:

Picture 1,  Picture 2,  Picture 3, Picture 4, Picture 5, and Picture 6.

Public Lecture - 2 August 2011

A public lecture was held on 2 August, presented by Professor Margaret Deuchar, Peredur Davies, and Marika Fusser, at the Bangor University Stall during the 2011 National Eisteddfod. The title of the lecture was 'Cymraeg a Saesneg mewn sgyrsiau pob dydd' ('Welsh and English in everyday conversations').

Click the following links to view pictures taken during the lecture:

Picture 1,  Picture 2,  Picture 3,  Picture 4.

Public lecture - 17 February 2011

A public lecture was held on 17 February, presented by Professor Ineke Mennen in the Main Arts Lecture Theatre at 6.15pm and entitled 'Where are you from? How pronunciation can reveal your language background'. Click here for the abstract, and here for the talk. (The 5th in the playlist)

Public lecture - 25 November 2010

A public lecture was held at 6.30 p.m. on 25 November 2010 and given in Welsh by Dr Gwyn Lewis

Title of talk: 'For the sake of our children'.  Click here for the talk. (The 4th in the playlist)

Public lecture - 27 May 2010

A public lecture was given by Prof Margaret Deuchar at the Main Arts Lecture Theatre, Bangor University at 6.00 p.m. The talk was entitled: “Chatting in two languages: problem or talent”?

This lecture was about research on bilingual conversation that we are doing at the Centre for Research on Bilingualism. When talking together, bilinguals often use both their languages. Not only may they use two languages in the same conversation, but even in the same sentence. This happens in many parts of the world, including  e.g. Wales, USA, Patagonia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and examples were given to demonstrate how this works. Language purists tend to consider this kind of language behaviour to be problematic and even to condemn it, arguing that it may lead to the death of minority languages. The argument was put forward that the ability to use both languages in the same sentence is a talent which is particularly well demonstrated by fluent bilinguals.  Rather than indicating an imperfect grasp of one language or the other, it actually shows a high level of competence, especially when the two languages have very different structures from one another, as in the case of Welsh and English.  The lecture showed how bilinguals manage to combine two languages with very different grammars from one another, and how we can look for evidence to reassure ourselves that this practice is not having a detrimental effect on minority languages. Click here for the talk. (The 3rd in the playlist)

Public lecture - 25 February 2010

A public lecture was given by Prof Virginia Gathercole at the Main Arts Lecture Theatre, Bangor University 6.00 p.m. The talk was entitled:

Parents, teachers, speech therapists, educational psychologists, social workers, and the like are often faced with decisions concerning bringing children up as bilinguals, often with limited information on which to base their decisions. But a common worry that children might find it difficult to learn two languages is unfounded. All evidence around the world indicates that learning two or more languages is as natural as learning to walk and run. On Thursday, Feb. 25, Prof. Virginia Mueller Gathercole of Bangor University gave a public address entitled "YES, WE CAN! O GALLWN! Learning two languages is as easy as child's play". She addressed some key questions concerning children's simultaneous acquisition of two languages. What is the evidence on the success of learning two languages at one time? Is this an effortful task for children? And do they achieve full competence in their two languages? How do they manage to learn two languages at once?

Prof. Gathercole, Professor in the School of Psychology and Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice, reported on studies that she and her colleagues have conducted over the years on children's development of vocabulary, grammatical forms, and semantics in their two languages. Based on research coming from several bilingual populations, including Welsh-English bilinguals in Wales, she discussed the relative importance to the language-learning process of the child's level of development, of the organization of the languages being learned, and of the amount and kind of exposure that the child has to each language. She addressed the processes that children go through as they expand on their knowledge in each of their languages. Click here for the talk. (2nd in the playlist)

Public lecture - 21 October 2009

A public lecture entitled 'A window into the workings of the active mind. The example of bilingualism' was given on 21 October 2009 by Prof Guillaume Thierry in the Main Arts Lecture Theatre at 6.30.  Hear his lecture here. (1st in the playlist)