Humanities and Social Sciences Colloquium - Kate Burridge

In this talk I explore the sort of attitudes and common sense views that people have about language and speech, as revealed in, for example, letters to newspapers or comments on radio. The views aired about language, particularly language and value, can be ferociously passionate and confident, but they are often lacking in the norms and standards of evidence we have come to expect of public debate on other topics (“post truth”, “alternative facts” and “fake news” aside!). The social consequences of this can be far-reaching. Forensic linguists (e.g. Diana Eades and Helen Fraser) have shown how wrong-headed thinking about language can even end up putting the wrong person in jail.