TOPIC: The Amazing Gift of Language

SPEAKER: Steve Clark, Professor Emeritus, Moody Bible Institute

What is language? This presentation will provide an overview of something we rarely consider because it is so automatic: language, the ability to express to others anything we can think of. After looking at what actually happens when we speak, we will summarize eight facts about language, such as its diversity, its productivity, how we learn it, etc. A variety of illustrations and demonstrations will be used to add interest. The goal is to encourage a deeper understanding of, and appreciation for, this uniquely human gift.

BIOGRAPHY

Steve retired in 2019 after serving as professor of linguistics at a college in Chicago for 23 years. Prior to that, he and his family lived for 11 years in a remote area of Papua New Guinea, where he analyzed and became fluent in the Sio language, which is spoken by fewer than 3,000 people and had never been studied before.

He did a linguistic analysis of the language, created an orthography, collected oral texts, developed a literacy program, and translated portions of the Bible into the language. He holds graduate degrees in linguistics (University of North Dakota) and education (University of Kansas).

He currently lives in Indian Land, SC, and keeps busy teaching English to recently arrived immigrants, and officiating track and field meets at colleges and universities across the Carolinas.