He holds a Ph. D. from Harvard University. He received the Linbach Award for Distinguished Teaching. A longtime student of languages, Dr. Tonkin has also taken a scholarly interest in interlinguistics, sociolinguistics, and international education. The seminar on Thursday evening began with discussion of what constitutes a language. It is a means of persuading, not just delivering a message.
Language is a meritocratic medium.
Languages are constructed and put together by the powerful and influential, and presented to everyone else as standard. It exists only when the rest of the world acknowledges it. There was discussion of how the English language came to be dominant. This dates back to the conference of Versailles, where Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson could not understand French. Thus, it was decided that half of the conference would be in French, and half in English.