Dialect: A Game About Language and How It Dies (Thorny Games) is a 3-to-4-hour-long exploration of language change in a fictional scenario. In Dialect, 3 to 5 players will select character roles and play through the language scenario, building new words and creating new meanings for existing words to describe the world around us. The gameplay will take place in Zoom (for audio/video) and Roll20 (for the gameplay board).

This language game study break is being held as part of programming for the Model Research Collection, Language is Everywhere: The Linguistics of Biology, Culture, and Society Across Time and Space, curated by Professor Claire Bowern for 2020-2021. It is also a part of the De-Stress Study Breaks on offer in December 2020. This year’s Model Research Collection makes language more visible by showing the different ways it contributes to the study of our lives: how language opens a window into the mind and brain, how children acquire language, how languages are lost and created around the world, how we can do archaeology with words and use language to study the past.
 
Monday, December 7, 1:00-4:30 PM: https://schedule.yale.edu/event/7285741 (led by Brandon Miliate)
Tuesday, December 8, 1:00-4:30 PM: https://schedule.yale.edu/event/7285686 (led by Kayleigh Bohémier)
Thursday, December 10, 9:00-12:00 AM: https://schedule.yale.edu/event/7308470 (led by Robin Dougherty)

This session will be led by Robin Dougherty, Librarian for Middle East Studies.