The Origin of Words is the name of a series of three lectures to be offered by the Centre for Slavic Writing at VDNH starting 21 August. The origins of language and writing will be discussed by the well-known Russian anthropologist Stanislav Drobyshevsky, historian Arsen Faradjev and linguist Svetlana Burlak, PhD. The talks will be held in the Lectorium of the Slovo Centre. Attendance is free by registration.
The first lecture of the Origin of Words series starts at 4 p.m. on 21 August. An expert in prehistoric art, Candidate of History, participating explorer on over 35 expeditions, author of over 40 published research papers and the popular science book Inception of Non-Adaptive Behaviours in Prehistoric Times, Arsen Faradjevwill shed light on how prehistoric people communicated and the kinds of things they had to say to each other. The lecture focuses on the latest discoveries and insights about the Palaeolithic Age, which predated writing, tracing the history of preliterate graphic expression more than three million years back. Those in attendance will get a sense of the tortuous arising of pictographic writing during the Neolithic Age, when the written word had just begun to germinate. Attendance is free by prior registration.
On 19 September, the Russian linguist, Doctor of Philology, Full Professor and author of the book The Origins of Language: Facts, Research, Hypotheses Svetlana Burlak will offer answers to the questions of why prehistoric people needed intelligible speech, whether all humans spoke the same language in the beginning or whether several proto-languages had emerged independently in different parts of the planet, and why speakers of different languages have dissimilar brain architectures.
In October, the subject of the origins of language and writing will be discussed by the Russian anthropologist and advocate of a science-based worldview, Candidate of Biology, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, School of Biology of Mikhail Lomonosov State University of Moscow, science editor of the Anthropogenesis.ru portal Stanislav Drobyshevsky.
To view the schedule and register for the events, visit the Slovo Centre website. Registration starts two weeks ahead of the event.
The lectures are part of the educational project Knowledge. VDNH. The lecture series will stream online on the official VDNH VKontakte community.
The events are fully compliant with the anti-coronavirus prescriptions currently in force: visitors are expected to wear face masks and observe social distancing. More information on the anti-coronavirus measures at VDNH can be found here.
Members of the Friends of VDNH loyalty programme enjoy a discount on tickets for the Slovo Centre and other VDNH venues. For a full and regularly updated list of the programme partner venues, see the programme page on the VDNH website.