2012 Programme
Event #35
Andrea Moro
I speak, therefore I am The word and the flesh: the neurobiology of language
One of the revolutionary discoveries of modern linguistics is that not all conceivable rules are applied in existing languages, and that even combination of rules are limited. In spite of its apparent chaos, Babel is therefore governed by invisible and very strict laws. But how broad are the confines within which a language may vary? Are they conventional, cultural, and arbitrary as we have long thought, or do they follow the brain’s neurobiological architecture? Today the great challenge of linguistics associated neurobiology is to identify the boundaries, established by the brain’s functional architecture—within which experience may influence the structure of language. Understanding this would produce unexpected results for those who are trying to answer the most important question: where does Man come from?
Andrea Moro, Professor of General Linguistics at the Scuola Univestitaria Superiore IUSS of Pavia, studies the link between human languages structure and the brain. He has been visiting scientist at the MIT and at Harvard University. He is member of the Accademia Pontificia di Arti e Lettere. Planning artificial grammars, he showed that language rules are not just arbitrary conventions but are restricted by the neurobiological architecture of the brain. He published essays in various languages, among them Breve storia del verbo essere (Adelphi, 2006) and Le lingue impossibili (Cortina, 2017). He also debut in fiction with the novel Il segreto di Pietramala (La nave di Teseo, 2018) with which he won the Flaiano Award. At the end of August he will publish the essay La razza e la lingua. Sei lezioni contro il razzismo (La nave di Teseo).
Event #3
Anna Salvo
Sorrow is like a telescope that helps us look into the distance: creatività and suffering
Event #4
Andrea Moro
I speak, therefore I am Like the starry sky: visions of language across the centuries
Event #28
Mauro Agnoletti, Ilaria Borletti Buitoni
Culture, environment, landscape. For a possible, sustainable future
