Are You Speaking My Language?

An evening of language, slang and identity

We are surrounded by hundreds of modern social tribes, each speaking their own distinct slanguage of colourful words, jokes and phrases, honed through years of conversations. Whether in the workplace, the battlefield or on the football terrace, these languages have the power to include and exclude.

Susie Dent, resident word expert in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4’s Countdown, and Jonnie Robinson, the Library’s Lead Curator of Spoken English, are joined by the world’s leading slang lexicographer Jonathon Green and Sociolinguist Devyani Sharma, to explore the connections between language and identity in this lively conversation chaired by journalist and critic Henry Hitchings.


This event is part of the Bloomsbury Festival 2016.