Friday, 1 December 2023 Contact us

You are Currently viewing Past Events, Click here to see upcoming 2024 Events

See 2024 Events
Paul-anthony-jones
Paul Anthony Jones

Why is this a Question? Everything about the Origins and Oddities of Language SOLD OUT

Paul Anthony Jones Interviewed by Alison Gomm

Tuesday, 28 March 2023

4:00pm

1 hour

Bodleian: Divinity School

£7 - £12.50

Popular linguist Paul Anthony Jones explores the nuts and bolts of our language including the origins of the alphabet, writing systems, grammar and structure, and he asks questions many of us never think to ask.

Why don’t eleven and twelve end in teen? Why do letters look the way they do? Why are some letters upper case and some lower case. Why are words in a particular order. How are you understanding what these shapes and symbols mean whilst simultaneously hearing them spoken in your head? And what is the question mark doing at the end of a sentence?

Jones runs the popular @HaggardHawks Twitter feed, blog and YouTube channel, which reveals daily word facts to 90,000 followers. He is author of The Cabinet of Calm, Word Drops, The Accidental Dictionary, The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities, and Around the World in 80 Words, and is also a piano teacher and musician.

University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Brookes University OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders La Leccia Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society
 

The Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Brookes University OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders La Leccia Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society