Chapter 8- Language and Thought Flashcards
Human language
Open and symbolic communication system specific to Homo sapiens
Follows rules of grammar
Allows its users to express abstract and distant ideas
Over 7000 different human languages, each is distinct from each other, however each is similar enough and different enough from animal communication
“Open”
Means that the system is dynamic and free to change
Ex: thousands of new words are added to the Oxford English Dictionary
“Symbolic”
Means that there is no real connection between a sound and the meaning or idea associated with it
Allows for flexibility in expressing meaning (ex: there are hundreds of ways to combine morphemes and phonemes to greet someone)
Ex: nothing about the word “cat” links it to the four-legged meowing creature it represents
The Hierarchial Structure of Language
Every language spoken can be broken down into these five levels: Sentence, phrases, words, morphemes, phonemes
Morphemes
The smallest units of meaning in a language
Represented by phonemes
Phonemes
The smallest units of sound in a language
Basic consonant and vowel sounds
Semantics
The meaning of words and combinations of words in a language
Syntax
Rules for arranging words and symbols in sentences (or parts of sentences)
Grammar
Entire set of rules for combining symbols and sounds
Used to speak and write a particular language
Includes matters like subject-verb agreement, plurals, possessives, etc.
The arbitrary nature of the connection between sound and meaning is evident when we consider that we can say the exact same sentence in almost every language in the world.
Social context
also influences the meaning of language
Pragmatics
The rules associated with the use of language across social situations
Involves knowing how to take turns in a conversation or how to speak differently to different people
Being able to communicate effectively in a language includes
knowing when and how to use the language appropriately across social situations
Why is Human Language Unique?
Because it is the only system capable of transmitting abstract ideas
Humans can discuss not only immediate feelings and needs but also abstract and remote ideas or states of being (such asa infinity, the afterlife, the universe- or whether apples are better than oranges)
Protolanguage
Rudimentary language also known as pre-language
Used by earlier species of humans, such as Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis
Differs from true human language in that it is thought to consist of words without syntax
Grammatical and syntactical language
First used by Homo sapiens
Language is less than 150,000 years old
Differs from animal communication
As our ancestors moved from protolanguage to grammatical language, they required brains with greater working memory and the ability for abstract thought
Animal communication
Focuses on immediate events related to mating, survival, and social identity
Usually prompts an immediate response from the listener
Theories of Evolution of the Human Language
Many scientists believe that the evolution of language and the evolution of the brain were intertwined
Human language relies upon other neural circuits than those used in the production and comprehension of animal calls
Increases in the size of human social groups may have triggered increased brain size and specialization, the more complex a group is, the greater the need for its members to communicate
Wernicke’s area
Left hemisphere of brain
Language comprehension
Broca’s area
Left hemisphere of brain
Language production
Since infants understand language before they start speaking suggests
suggests that Wernicke’s area develops earlier than Broca’s area
Stages of Language Development
cooing babbling one-word utterances two word utterances sentence phrase
cooing
The first sounds humans make other than crying
During first 6 months
Repeated vowel sounds
“aah, ee, ooh”
2) Babbling
Infant’s experimentation with a complex range of phonemes, including consonants and vowels
Sounds are not recognizable as words
5 to 6 months of age
First babble single syllables “buh” and “duh”. Later they utter gibberish which is a string of single syllabus “ da, buh, ma, wee…”
Babbling Babies
Make more sounds than they hear in their native language
Can make more sounds and hear more sounds than their parents
Adult Asians cannot distinguish between the phonemes “r” and “l”. Their toddler children do, which suggests that the ability to discriminate sounds declines at some point in development.
Experiment:
Janet Werker and Richard Tees were able to determine the age at which the ability to discriminate sounds disappears
Exposed English-speaking children of different ages to phones from English, Hindi and Salish
Children from six to eight months could easily discriminate between non-English phonemes that adults could not
However, this ability was lost in children by the time they reached the age of one year
As children progress through the babbling stage and with repeated exposure to the sounds in their native language, they lose the ability to say or perceive sounds that are not used in their language
One-Word Utterances
Single word speech, like “mama”, “dada”, “more”, or “no!”
12 months of age
Likely descended from protolanguage
How Children Learn Words
hildren tend to learn words that are spoken at the end of sentences first
Example:
In languages that are structured in the order of subject-verb-object, like English, children acquire sounds earlier than verbs because nouns are objects that tend to appear at the end of sentences
In languages that are structured subject-object-verb, like Japanese or Mandarin, children acquire verbs earlier than nouns
Recency Effect
Tendency to remember/learn the last word in a sentence first
How babies learn language
4) Two-Word Utterances
Phrases children put together
18 months
“my ball”, “mo wawa” or “go away”
Parents act as translators
5) Sentence Phrase
The third phase of language development Speaking in fully grammatical sentences Happens quickly Age 2 and 1/2 to 3 years old Example: “I going come in fourteen minutes. You dress me up like a baby elephant. You know how to put it back together”
Are Girls Better than Boys?
Girls slightly outperform boys in the acquisition of language skills, particularly vocabulary
This is true regardless of the language spoken and geographical area
The female advantage is not as apparent by the age of six and gender differences in language ability in adults are not as clear
The Sequence of Acquiring Language
Cooing to babbling, one-word utterances, two-word utterances, adult-like sentence structure
Association Between Brain Growth and Language Development
Steep rise in brain growth and language between the ages of one and three
The rapid development of language matches the rapid growth of the brain
Age one
child’s brain is less than 50% of its adult size
Infant is babbling and perhaps saying a few words
Age three
Brain is 75-80% of its adults size
Child says two-word phrases and short sentences
Sensitive Period
If children are not exposed to any human language before a certain age, their language abilities never develop
Begins in first years of life and ends at about age 12
Optimal time for learning language
Severe neglect and lack of exposure during this period cause permanent problems in language development
We need verbal stimulation from others while we are young children in order to develop the ability to speak
Case of Genie
Abused and severely neglected
Diagnosed as mildly retarded at 2 years old
Father tied her to a chair all day and caged her in a crib at night
Was beaten every time she tried to speak and yelled at
Abuse lasted until Genie was 13 and 1/2
Social worker thought she was 6 or 7 years old based on her body
Could only speak a few words like “stopit” or “nomore”
Age 17 and four years of language training, her language skills were extremely delayed
Could communicate simple ideas, but her speech was ungrammatical sentences
“Spot chew glove” or “Applesauce buy store”
Language on par with young child
Language comprehension was much better than language production
Brain activity while speaking was located in the right hemisphere, language ability is located in the left hemisphere
The Case of Genie suggests that left hemisphere speech development requires stimulation from the environment during a certain sensitive period if it is to develop properly
Environmental Influence theory
We learn language from the people around us
Acquire vocabulary by hearing others speak
Figure out what people mean by context
Children who hear more total and unique words and complex sentences develop their language faster and more richly than those who do not
Social and Learning Theorists
Argue for the importance of social input and stimulation
Environmental Influences on Language
Culture Socioeconomic status Birth order School Peers Television Parents
Development of Vocabulary as a Function of Socioeconomic Status of the Family
Examined language development in families with children from three different economic groups: professional, middle and working class, and unemployed
All children started to speak around the same time and developed good structure and use of language
Children from professional families heard 2153 words per hour, those from middle and working families heard 1251 words per hour, those from unemployed heard 616 words per hour.
By age three, the average vocabulary of children from unemployed families was around 500 words
Children from professional families was 1100 words
Children from professional families heard more encouragement words than discouragement words than all of the others
Imitation
Doing exactly what you see someone else do
Much of what we learn comes from imitating family members
Newborns will stick out their tongues or open their mouths when they see an adult do so
Older babies try to imitate sounds they hear
Child-directed speech
Changes in adult speech patterns when speaking to young children or infants Universal Characterized by: Speaking in a higher pitch Raise and lowering volume of voice Using simpler sentence structures Emphasizing the here and now Using emotion to communicate their messages
Mirror neurons
Clusters of brain cells that fire when an individual both performs a task and observes another person do the same task
Facilitate social learning and imitation
Humans have mirror neurons that become active during both language and imitation tasks, suggesting an important relationship
Spoken language
relies on auditory input and oral output
Sign language
relies on visual input and manual output
Are true languages
Recruit the same left hemisphere areas used in spoken language
Also involves right hemisphere, which has strong role in spatial cognition
Degree of right hemisphere activation in signers is strongly influenced by early life experience
Individuals who learned ASL before puberty show much more right hemisphere involvement than signers who learned after puberty
Conditioning and Learning Theory
B.F Skinner
Believed that language is like any other behaviour: something that exists because it is reinforced and shaped
Proposed that we don’t speak because we want to convey an idea or feeling
We speak because we are reinforced to
Conditions That Reinforce Verbal Behaviour According to Skinner
Parent’s reaction has reinforcing effect that shapes children behaviour
Whenever children say anything that comes close to a word, the parents smile and say “Wow! She said Mama!”
Language development is shaping, successive approximations, and reinforcement
The first approximation of a complex behaviour will be reinforced
A toddler utters “mama”, she gets more of her mother’s attention and smiles than when she utters “baba”
The child learns that the word “mama” matters and then learns what it means
Each step is subsequently reinforced until the child reaches the final behaviour, speaking in fully grammatical sentences
Cannot fully explain how we learn language, parental reinforcement does not consistently occur for aspects of language development like syntax and grammar rules
Nativist View of Language
We discover language rather than learn it
Language development is “native” or inborn
The brain is structured for language learning
Language acquisition device (LAD)
An innate, biologically based capacity to acquire language
Proposed by Noam Chomsky as part of his nativist view of language
Humans are biologically built to speak
Must have principles of universal grammar that allow a child to learn any language as her/his native language
Chomsky
Suggested that there is a universal grammar underlying all human languages
Each individual language is simply a specific expression of this universal grammar
A cornerstone of universal grammar is that all languages embed clauses within clauses
Nativist Theorists
Argue for the importance of brain structures and genetic factors
“Innately guided learning”
We learn to speak, but in doing so we are guided by our innate capacity for language learning
Grammar: more innate and genetically influenced
Vocabulary: more strongly shaped by the environment
FOXP2
a gene involved in both understanding and producing speech
Variants found in all mammals, but human form differs from chimpanzees/ closest living relatives
Recently found in Neanderthal DNA
Can Apes Learn Human Language?
Chimps do not have vocal apparatus that allows them to speak, physically incapable of making same range of sounds as humans
Can be taught to communicate using non-vocal sign language, ASL (American Sign Language)
Allen and Beatrix Gardner have compiled more than 400 ASL signs that three chimps named Dar, Tatu, and Moja learned
Range: 100=400 words
Kanzi was son of Matata, who were both captured in the wild
Adult Matata had little success in learning sign language
Kanzi was present for all sessions but not formally taught any signs
Kanzi was paying attention to the signs they taught his mother
He learned more quickly and developed a larger vocabulary than his mom
Equivalent language comprehension to that of a two-and-a-half year old human child
Kanzi knows 3000 words
Can Apes Use ASL to Communicate With Each other?
Sometimes
What do Apes Sign about?
88% conversations about social interaction, play, and reassurance
12% about feeding, grooming, cleaning, discipline, and “talking” to themselves
Washoe
Chimp who taught her son Louis how to sign
In 8 weeks, Louis regularly signed with humans and learned about 20 signs after 18 months
Apes are still limited compared to humans
Do have some basic level of metacognition
Acquire signs slower than humans
Apes rarely progress beyond two or three word combinations
Highest level of language learning is equivalent to the level of a toddler in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure
Do not understand or correctly use syntax
Metacognition
Knowing what they know and do not know
Border Collie Named Rico
Vocabulary of 200 words, similar to that of human toddler
Can fetch objects based on their spoken name
If asked to retrieve object he has never heard of before, will fetch an unfamiliar object over familiar ones
Can make the link between an unfamiliar, arbitrary sound and an novel object, a process important in human children
Natural Language Lab at Simon Fraser University
Created computer programs that can learn, understand and translate language
Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis
Language creates thought as much as thought creates language
Benjamin Whorf and Edward Sapir
Language shapes our thoughts and perceptions to the extent that people who speak languages that lack a common foundation (Like English or Chinese) have difficulty directly communicating and translating their ideas from one language to another
Leads to the linguistic determinism hypothesis
Linguistic Determinism Hypothesis
States that our language determines our way of thinking and perceptions of the world
If there are no words for certain objects or concept’s in one’s language, it is not possible to think about those objects or concepts
Linguistic realism
The view that language influences our thinking (not determines)
If languages differ in the words they use to define categories, one might have a cognitive advantage with a larger amount of categories
