What we usually don’t understand about language, and why this matters.

Our misconception of language and its role in human evolution may have dire consequences for both humanity and the ecosphere.
We are usually unaware that language imposes constraints on how we perceive, think and act. What language enables is clearly apparent: all the cultures, technologies and designs we humans have created are grounded in our ability to coordinate with each other as we plan, organize, act and create, and evaluate what we have done. What language constrains and hides is far more difficult to see, yet there are clues in our experiences. In this section, hosted by Pille Bunnell, Alexander Kravchenko will present his work that explores how a systems-theory approach helps us to arrive at a holistic view of language as our existential domain in which we arise as observers.
Participants Bios:
ALEXANDER KRAVCHENKO is Professor of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at Baikal State University (BSU). Recently, he has developed a new curriculum for the BA program in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) offered by BSU and is trying, with the help of his colleagues, to apply Maturana’s ideas about language and cognition in training would-be teachers capable of seeing language in new light and developing more effective skills in teaching a foreign language. He is the author of Sign, Meaning, Knowledge (2003), Biology of Cognition and Linguistic Analysis (2008), and the editor of Cognitive Dynamics in Linguistic Interactions (2012). His latest book (published in Russian) is Rediscovering Language: A New Agenda for Linguistics (2021).
Event Chat:
drive.google.com/file/d/1RR3Q...