Queenswood Sixth Form were treated to a fascinating talk on the study of linguistics by Dr Bert Vaux, of King’s College, Cambridge on Friday 14 November.

Bert began by talking about Foreign Accent Syndrome, when a patient wakes up from a brain injury speaking with a foreign accent, and explained the theory behind why this happens.  He also discussed how babies and toddlers learn how to speak and the grammatical mistakes they make. Finally he spoke about his research into the peculiarities of geographical synonyms, using the example of the crayfish/crawfish/crawdad in North America.

This was an excellent opportunity for our students to learn about a degree course that they might not have so far considered.