Animal Communication, Language, and Thought Flashcards
why is studying psycholinguistic important?
because of the effect on language on everyday life
what is communication?
- when one organism (the transmitter) encodes information into a signal
- passes through another organism (the receiver) which decodes the signal and can respond appropriately
what does verbal communication consist of?
spoken/written transmission of a message
- this can also be dialects and constructed languages
what are non-linguistic aspects of language?
body language, gestures, emoticons
- tone, rhythm, and stress are other non-verbal elements
what is language?
a type of communication between the combination of a structured system of symbols (words) and their rules (grammar)
how many languages are there?
between 3,000-8,000
how often do languages die out?
at a rate of 1 every 2 weeks
european languages consist of _% of all total languages
3%
the most common languages are…
chinese, spanish, and english
examples of domains that language is relevant in
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
what is the definition of what makes a human language?
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
what did hockett (1960) come up with to distinguish language from communication?
a communication system must require all 16 design features to be called a “language”
which design features are important for human language?
- semanticity
- arbitrariness
- displacement
- productivity/generativity
- prevarication
- reflexiveness
semanticity
words are symbols/signs that express meanin
arbitrariness
no intrinsic relationship between most words and their meaning (whale vs microorganism)
displacement
not tied to here and now, and can discuss hypotheticals
productivity/generativity
new languages can always be generated to create an infinite number of messages
prevarication
we can lie
reflexiveness
we can use language to talk about language
disagreement over arbitrariness
individual sounds or clusters can convey meaning, e.g., the bouba-kiki effect as an example of sound symbolism
why is it important to be careful with regards to animal language?
avoid anthropomorphising
limitations of bee dances
- can only convey novel messages about food
limitations of dolphins
- no evidence of syntax use
- only communicate about water
animal language in songbirds
there is overlap with human language acquisition, and left-hemisphere speculation
what is the human genetic overlap with apes?
95%-98.5%, which may explain their rich communication systems
similarities between apes and humans
- similar brain asymmetries as humans, such as enlarged broca’s area
- used for complex hand movements rather than complex speech sounds
why is it impossible to teach apes to speak?
they have a different articulatory apparatus (throat) than humans, so sign language or artificial lexigrams are used instead
gua (1933)…
learned to understand a few words but never produced any
viky (1952)…
could understand some word and word-combination after 6 years, but articulated with some difficulty
washoe (1969)…
taught ASL and by 4 years-old had acquired 85 signs and novel sign combinations
- sensitivity to word order and new combinations
nim chimpsky (1979)…
learned 125 ASL signs and made combinations, however longer combinations were mostly redundant
evidence that language might influence our thinking?
examples of female-doctor and male-nurse having longer eye-scan times
- suggests frequency and stereotype can effect how language is used
what is the sapir-whorf hypothesis?
states that languages shapes our thoughts
linguistic determinism
thoughts are constrained by language, as this determines our thinking
linguistic relativism
people who speak a different language perceive and experience the world differently
what is not good evidence for linguistic determinism?
- vocabulary differences, as differences may be perceived but not always labelled
- instead, behaviour must be measured
linguistic relativity in gender
masculine gendered objects were described using masculine terms, and feminine descriptions were used for feminine gendered words
what did glucksburg and weisberg (1966) discover?
the way an object is described affects how we think about its use
language affects encoding in space
dutch/english speakers used relative egocentric ordering as a frame of reference
- 60% of tenejapans restructured the table using allocentric ordering
egocentric
gives a relative frame of reference
allocentric
gives an absolute frame of reference
language affects encoding in time
english speakers think of time horizontally whereas mandarin think of time vertically
critiques of linguistic determinism
pinker (1994) believes language ≠ thought, as we have a different language for thought (mentalese) which becomes before we use language
evidence of idelfonso, to critique linguistic determinism
had no problem communicating his thoughts, despite having no language and only being taught sign language
universality as a critique of linguistic determinism
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
