Animal Communication, Language, and Thought

Question 1

why is studying psycholinguistic important?

Answer 1

because of the effect on language on everyday life

Question 2

what is communication?

Answer 2

1. when one organism (the transmitter) encodes information into a signal
2. passes through another organism (the receiver) which decodes the signal and can respond appropriately

Question 3

what does verbal communication consist of?

Answer 3

spoken/written transmission of a message
- this can also be dialects and constructed languages

Question 4

what are non-linguistic aspects of language?

Answer 4

body language, gestures, emoticons
- tone, rhythm, and stress are other non-verbal elements

Question 5

what is language?

Answer 5

a type of communication between the combination of a structured system of symbols (words) and their rules (grammar)

Question 6

how many languages are there?

Answer 6

between 3,000-8,000

Question 7

how often do languages die out?

Answer 7

at a rate of 1 every 2 weeks

Question 8

european languages consist of _% of all total languages

Answer 8

3%

Question 9

the most common languages are…

Answer 9

chinese, spanish, and english

Question 10

examples of domains that language is relevant in

Answer 10

eduction- whether someone is a good reader

clinical- dyspraxia, aphasia, speech therapy

second language learning

marketing

social and cultural- accents and expressions

forensic- analysis of speech patterns and voice identification

Question 11

what is the definition of what makes a human language?

Answer 11

a system of communicating thoughts, feelings, and information using words to form unlimited expressions
- that can be understood by a group of people beyond the here and now

Question 12

what did hockett (1960) come up with to distinguish language from communication?

Answer 12

a communication system must require all 16 design features to be called a “language”

Question 13

which design features are important for human language?

Answer 13

1. semanticity
2. arbitrariness
3. displacement
4. productivity/generativity
5. prevarication
6. reflexiveness

Question 14

semanticity

Answer 14

words are symbols/signs that express meanin

Question 15

arbitrariness

Answer 15

no intrinsic relationship between most words and their meaning (whale vs microorganism)

Question 15

displacement

Answer 15

not tied to here and now, and can discuss hypotheticals

Question 16

productivity/generativity

Answer 16

new languages can always be generated to create an infinite number of messages

Question 16

prevarication

Answer 16

we can lie

Question 17

reflexiveness

Answer 17

we can use language to talk about language

Question 18

disagreement over arbitrariness

Answer 18

individual sounds or clusters can convey meaning, e.g., the bouba-kiki effect as an example of sound symbolism

Question 19

why is it important to be careful with regards to animal language?

Answer 19

avoid anthropomorphising

Question 20

limitations of bee dances

Answer 20

• can only convey novel messages about food

Question 21

limitations of dolphins

Answer 21

• no evidence of syntax use
• only communicate about water

Question 22

animal language in songbirds

Answer 22

there is overlap with human language acquisition, and left-hemisphere speculation

Question 23

what is the human genetic overlap with apes?

Answer 23

95%-98.5%, which may explain their rich communication systems

Question 24

similarities between apes and humans

Answer 24

• similar brain asymmetries as humans, such as enlarged broca’s area
• used for complex hand movements rather than complex speech sounds

Question 25

why is it impossible to teach apes to speak?

Answer 25

they have a different articulatory apparatus (throat) than humans, so sign language or artificial lexigrams are used instead

Question 26

gua (1933)…

Answer 26

learned to understand a few words but never produced any

Question 27

viky (1952)…

Answer 27

could understand some word and word-combination after 6 years, but articulated with some difficulty

Question 28

washoe (1969)…

Answer 28

taught ASL and by 4 years-old had acquired 85 signs and novel sign combinations
- sensitivity to word order and new combinations

Question 29

nim chimpsky (1979)…

Answer 29

learned 125 ASL signs and made combinations, however longer combinations were mostly redundant

Question 30

evidence that language might influence our thinking?

Answer 30

examples of female-doctor and male-nurse having longer eye-scan times
- suggests frequency and stereotype can effect how language is used

Question 31

what is the sapir-whorf hypothesis?

Answer 31

states that languages shapes our thoughts

Question 32

linguistic determinism

Answer 32

thoughts are constrained by language, as this determines our thinking

Question 33

linguistic relativism

Answer 33

people who speak a different language perceive and experience the world differently

Question 34

what is not good evidence for linguistic determinism?

Answer 34

• vocabulary differences, as differences may be perceived but not always labelled
• instead, behaviour must be measured

Question 35

linguistic relativity in gender

Answer 35

masculine gendered objects were described using masculine terms, and feminine descriptions were used for feminine gendered words

Question 36

what did glucksburg and weisberg (1966) discover?

Answer 36

the way an object is described affects how we think about its use

Question 37

language affects encoding in space

Answer 37

dutch/english speakers used relative egocentric ordering as a frame of reference
- 60% of tenejapans restructured the table using allocentric ordering

Question 38

egocentric

Answer 38

gives a relative frame of reference

Question 39

allocentric

Answer 39

gives an absolute frame of reference

Question 40

language affects encoding in time

Answer 40

english speakers think of time horizontally whereas mandarin think of time vertically

Question 41

critiques of linguistic determinism

Answer 41

pinker (1994) believes language ≠ thought, as we have a different language for thought (mentalese) which becomes before we use language

Question 42

evidence of idelfonso, to critique linguistic determinism

Answer 42

had no problem communicating his thoughts, despite having no language and only being taught sign language

Question 43

universality as a critique of linguistic determinism

Answer 43

if colour perception is determined by language, there would be no expectation of systematicity

• all cultures have universal constraints on organisation and number of BTC (basic colour terms)
• this might have an effect on memory, colour cognition, or perception