Research Talk by Prof. Ralf Thiede: Children's Literature as Language Nutrition
- Date
- Thursday 9 October 2025, 10:00-11:15
- Location
- Botany House (opposite the Great Hall) seminar room 1.03
Prof. Ralf Thiede is Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA. He has research expertise in the areas of the language of children's literature, English Medieval Language and Literature, and the concept of harmony. While visiting the University of Leeds, he will speak on the topic of "Children's Literature as Language Nutrition." This presentation describes language literally as a nutrient to which the human brain has adapted and which it needs to develop and thrive, with children's literature acting as a superfood.
Abstract
Children's books supplement language at home in sometimes surprising ways. Besides rhythms and rhymes, we also find unusual vocabulary (including neologisms and nonsense words) and linguistic violations (phonotactic, morphological, semantic, and syntactic). Children's book authors offer children something they are less likely to receive in child-directed speech at home: ludic language, a surprising, make-believe, magical plaything. In offering language above and beyond domestic shop talk, children's book authors measurably accelerate the child's language acquisition and potentially brain development.
Further details
This talk will be chaired by Dr Valentina Brunetto, Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Leeds.
No registration is needed. All welcome.