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Students to present 'language museum' May 6

By Mara Fink '11
May 5, 2008

Have you ever wondered where a certain word came from, what an irreversible binomial is or how sports announcers work in pairs? The English Language and Linguistics class at St. Olaf College will uncover some of the mysteries of words in a Language Museum that will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 6 in Buntrock Commons, Room 144.

Each student in the class will display an exhibit for the museum on a topic dealing with linguistic studies. The projects vary widely, but include topics such as St. Olaf slang, how puns work (or don't) and code switching (how bilinguals switch from one language to another).

The goal of displaying the projects in a "language museum," says Assistant Professor of Norwegian Louis Janus, is to demystify linguistics for the general public. "I think often linguistics comes across as esoteric or mystical, and I want to make it seem clear and interesting," he says. "I also think that the students will learn so much by preparing to explain their topics to someone who has not studied them."

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.