Chapter 2 Flashcards
Communicative signals
Intentional, consious and deliberate communication.
Informative signals
Unintentionally sent messages, e.g. body language
Properties of language
Displacement Semanticity Arbritrariness Cultural transmission Productivity Duality Discreteness Reflexivity
Displacement
The ability to refer to things that are distant in space or time, things that are not here and now.
Semanticity
Language carries meaning, e.g. words constantly stands for objects. Talking about a tree everybody knows its a tall thing with leaves that grows outside.
Arbritrariness
There is no natural connection between the token and its referent, the word tree has no actual connection to do with the tall thing growing outside.
Cultural transmission
Some aspects of language are not instinctive or inherited bud learned, specific languages depend on culture. A child will speak the language it is surrounded with.
Productivity
The ability to create new words and sentences, there is an endless amount of sentences in the english language.
Duality
Units can be put together and then form meaningful units (words), the units can be recombined to form different units.
Discreteness
Signals can be broken down into small units which has no meaning
Reflexivity
The communication system can be used to discuss the communication itself.
Washoe
Brought up using sign language, could use 100 signs and produce short senteces.
Sarah and Lana
Taught to use symbols for words and could thereby communicate using these symbols.
Kanzi
Watched his mother (Lana) being taught sign language more sussexfully than her.