Chapter 1 Flashcards
Ethologist
Scientist who studies animal behavior
Communication
Behavior intended to influence another organism
Conspecific
Member of some species
Four “f’s” of animal communication
Food, foe, friend, finding a mate
Food
Honeybee waggle dance
Karl von Frisch (1967):
Found that dance conveys direction and distance
Direction
Angle from vertical indicates angle from the sun
Distance
Length of waggle in the middle correlates with distance from the hive
Alarm call
Warns conspecifics of approaching predators
Vervet monkey calls for:
“Eagle”
“Leopard”
“Snake”
Dominance hierarchy
Social system in which each member knows who ranks above and who ranks below
Mother-infant bonding examples
- Rat pups emit ultrasound when they fall from their nest
- Human babies cry for their moms
Social grooming
- Picking fleas and dirt from fur
- Builds friendships
- Form of communication because it influences other’s behavior
Males advertise their genetic prowess to attract mates
- Peacock feathers
- Bullfrog croaking
- Birdsong
- Firefly lights
Females also advertise interest
- Mating rituals
- Pheromones
Features of Animal Communication Systems
- Limited range of expression
- Holophrases: refers to the entire situation, not specific objects or events
- Little ability to combine symbols to express novel ideas
- Here and now
Modes of human language
- Speech mostly resembles vocalized communication systems
- Writing has taken on its own form and conventions
- Sign languages are their own independent of spoken languages
Primacy of speech (Hackett, 1960)
Virtually all language use is in its spoken mode
Three features of language
-Rules
-Structure
-Arbitrary symbols-words are symbols bearing no resemblance to what they refer to
(Animal communication doesn’t have all of these)
Duality of patterning
- Structuring process that takes units at a lower level
- Combines them according to rules
- Form new units at a higher level
Pyramid scheme (Bottom to top)
- Phonemes-meaningless speech sounds
- Phonology-rules for combining phonemes
- Morphemes-basic units of meaning (root words, suffixes, prefixes)
- Morphology-rules for combining morphemes to form words
- Words-units of language
Syntax
Rules for ordering words into phrases and sentences
Working memory
What is currently being thought (STM-about 7 items)
Chunking
Grouping items into units to increase working memory capacity
Discourse
Sequences of sentences ordered according to rules
Displacement
Ability to refer to things/events beyond here and now
Homo erectus
1.8mil-200,000 years ago
First human-like creature to walk upright
Homo neaderthalensis
200,000-50,000 years ago
Parallel species to early humans
Homo sapiens
(200,000 years ago to today)
Only surviving homo species
Common ancestor
Humans, gorillas, chimps all have a common ancestor (6MYA)
Recursion
Process of extending a pattern by placing it inside itself (clauses)
Centrality of syntax
Idea that the ability to organize words into phrases and sentences is the distinguishing feature of language
Chomsky proposed:
- Recursion is key to understanding evolution of language
- Single mutation transformed pre-human brain into recursive thinking machine
Hopeful monster hypothesis
Idea that a single mutation can lead to rapid transition of species
KE family
Family from London with a genetic language disorder
FOXP2
Gene that plays a role in brain development
Continuity theory
Steady transition from animal communication to human language
Discontinuity theory
Sudden transition from animal communication to human language
Pidgin
Simple language with a few hundred words with basic grammar
When speakers of different languages communicate
Creole
Full-fledged language based on pidgin
Protolanguage
Hypothetical pidgin-like language spoken by ancestral humans
Bickerton (1990) proposed:
- Animal communication (pre-Homo erectus)
- Protolanguage (Homo erectus)
- Full language (Homo sapiens)
Mother tongue hypothesis (Falk, 2009)
Language evolved from maternal vocalizations that took on meaning over many generations
Singing Neanderthal hypothesis (Mithen, 2005)
Both music and language evolved from the vocalizations of pre-human social interactions
Social grooming hypothesis (Dunbar, 1998)
Gossip for humans serves the same purpose of social network building that grooming does for chimpanzees
Characteristics of pidgins
- Simple phonology
- No morphology
- Limited vocabulary
- Little syntax-short sentences
- Effortful to produce
Gua (Kellogg & Kellogg, 1933)
Raised chimp infant with their own infant but failed to learn any words by 18 months
Vicki (Hayes & Hayes, 1952)
Raised chimp infant that learned only four words after three years
Vocal tract
System of air passages where speech is produced
Chimp vocal tract doesn’t allow speech production
Koko (Patterson, 1978)
Gorilla trained in ASL, learning about 100 words
Kanzi (Savage-Rumbaugh & others, 1998)
Bonobo to communicate with lexigrams (visual symbols)
2 year old human comprehension
0-12 months
Vocalization, babbling, gradually becoming language like
12-18 months
Few dozen words, used as holophrases
10-24 months
Word learning at a rapid pace
Pidgin-like structure
24-48 months
Vocabulary and syntax develop
Aphasia
Language deficit due to brain damage
Broca’s aphasia
- Disjointed, ungrammatical speech
- Effortful language production
- pidgin-like
- Affects spoken, written, and signed language
Broca’s area
Left frontal lobe with a role in speech production, organizing language into hierarchical structures
