The Geography Department Colloquium Series presents Dr. Stan Brunn on “An International and Interdisciplinary Megabook Project: The Changing World Language Map” on Friday, September 9, from 3:05 to 4:00 p.m. in Clippinger 119.
Brunn labels himself a cosmopolitan Middle Westener after being raised in small towns and rural areas in a half-dozen states. He taught previously at the University of Florida and Michigan State University. He joined the University of Kentucky department in 1980 as chair and served in that capacity from 1980-88. He was appointed by the Governor as State Geographer from 1988-1989. His teaching and research interests include political, social and urban geography, the geographies of information and communication, the geographies of religion and languages, time-space geographies and innovative cartographies. He has offered seminars on technological hazards, cyberspace, humane geographies, peace and reconciliation.
Abstract: One of my current projects is editing THE CHANGING WORLD LANGUAGE MAP, which Springer will produce as an electronic reference volume. There are sections on language origins, conflicts, instruction, use, technology, policy representation, regions and mapping. I have over 220 scholars from around the world contributing original chapters to this volume; these Include sociologists geographers, historians and anthropologists looking at language issues just mentioned as well as linguists. This fascinating interdisciplinary and international project will become, I hope, a standard reference source for the next decade and beyond. I will share the content, the organization, and the contributors to those attending and perhaps even stimulate some faculty and students to contribute to the volume. SE Ohio is a distinctive language region with many variants in speech, place names, and rural landscapes, including the Ohio River, which is one of the world’s major cultural watershed.
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