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Creativity: In any language, a glass full up

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Creativity…among us

Convergence of 3 human phenomena: --- Knowledge --- Original, transformative thinking --- Motivation/intrinsic passion

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The creative thinking process A four-step path:– Dissatisfaction with status quo – Mélange of disparate “knowledges”– Perseverance through the difficult & dry– Perspective attainment

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Creativity: 8 traits Fluency Flexibility Originality Elaboration Visualization Transformation Intuition Synthesis

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Language and creativity -- Written expression: re-wiring the brain -- Neurological change from reading & writing -- Neural flexibility yielding novelty -- Speaking sense and nonsense

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Language and languages: quintessentially, “unobviously” creative

-- Language -- Dialect -- Idiolect

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Language, exemplary creativity Fluency: flow of sounds into patterns Flexibility: making utterances fit contexts Originality: the novelty of it all Elaboration: customization, explanation Visualization: picture-painting with words Transformation: synonymy Intuition: future and conditional expression Synthesis: summing-up, distillation

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Creative language: the muse in use Poetry – mental intra-action, not random Song – words & music interacting Prose – fiction/non-fiction Creative language all the time:

Linguistic “competence” Creative “performance”

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Linguistic creativity socially shaped

Learning Mimicry Call & response Vertical dialects

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“Reductive” analysis? Not! Four-stage process can enlighten… Attention to detail Translation to metaphor Defamiliarization Alternative perception

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(linguistic) creativity: Predictable? Environment Comfort Stimulation Openness Readiness for synthesis

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Linguistic creativity…let’s do it! Onomatopoeia Sense and nonsense Possible and impossible Rhyme, meter, and phonology Calligrammes, structure, poetry