Danish is an unusual language: because its sound properties tend to obscure the beginnings and ends of words, Danish children appear to be delayed in learning their native tongue, and even adults seem to require more time to understand one another. However, we know very little about the impact on adult Danish usage patterns. In a new three-year research project at AU supported by The Danish Council for Independent Research, we will experimentally test what Danes hear, understand, and how they communicate. Comparisons will be made to Norwegian—a related language with a more “transparent” sound structure.

The project officially starts September 2017, but at this kick-off seminar we gather project members and guests to stimulate discussion and inspire our investigation of Danish as an intriguing scientific puzzle.

Program:

9:00 - 9:30    Introduction, Morten H. Christiansen (AU, Haskins Laboratories, and Cornell University)

9:30 - 10:15   Phonetic Reductions in Danish, Ruben Schachtenhaufen (Copenhagen University)

10:30 - 11:15   Individual differences in school-aged children's sentence structure comprehension, Mads Poulsen (Copenhagen University)

11:30 - 12:15   The Intelligibility of Danish by Norwegian and Swedish Listeners, Nanna H. Hilton (University of Groningen)

12:15 – 13:30  Lunch

13:30 - 14:00   The impact of the Danish sound structure on early language processing and acquisition, Fabio Trecca (AU)

14:00 - 17:00   Discussion

17:00 - Reception

Participation is free but due to space limitations registration is needed. Please register by following this link: https://auws.au.dk/PuzzleofDanishSeminar

Questions about the event can be directed at Kristian Tylén: kristian@cc.au.dk