Monthly General Meeting
Saturday, February 14, 2009, 7:30 pm at the First Plymouth Church at Hampden Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver. The church is on the southwest corner. Enter parking lot from Colorado Boulevard. Room 203, second floor. There is an elevator at the west end of the building. Meeting fee $3 for both members and guests. Come early and stay late to socialize.
Historical Geography of the English Language
Richard T. Kerr
We briefly trace homo sapien sapien language through mass migrations caused by millennial fluctuations in climate and sea level. One such diaspora was the flooding of the Black Sea Basin in “Noah’s Flood” as described by Dr. Robert Ballard, noted oceanographer. The invention of writing and development of the alphabet is our key. 19th Century discovery of similarities throughout Indo-European languages is another cornerstone.
Stone Age and Bronze Age settlement of Belgic and Celtic tribes in Central Europe and their crossing into post-ice age Great Britain set the stage. We come upon an historic series of invasions, each drastically changing the face of Great Britain.
We may now appreciate the richness of our English language and its world-wide crown of “Lingua Franca”.
From Richard Kerr:
Born in Los Angeles and retain memories of the Depression—my father came home from work and told us that his salary had just been cut to $125.00 (per month!), 7 December 1941—my sister and I were roller skating in the neighborhood. My mother called us at a friend’s and said, “Come home. The war has started.”—death of President Roosevelt—my mother and a friend picked us up at school. Driving home, both were crying. It took a while to realize why. I now understand.
BA in Geography UCLA, 1956. Received an ROTC commission as a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force. Instructed in Weapons Control at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida.
Travel agent for 36 years. When the travel business crashed and burned, got an MA in geography at California State University Northridge, Taught geography for five years, including at Metropolitan State University of Denver. A friend in Denver said, “Forty years between BA and MA? Mighty slow learners out there in California!”
In Denver since 1977. Spend time with two of three grandchildren in Denver and travel to see third in Atlanta. Volunteer at various museums and currently on the Hospitality and the Buildings and Grounds Committees at First Universalist Church.
For more information, contact
Ed Schreiber, Programs Officer, 303-692-8535,
ed@schreiber.org
Your Programs Officer is very selective, but welcomes your suggestions for future programs, including presentations by members on their areas of interest or expertise, if they would be of interest to all of us.