Language

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

Arbitrary symbols

Generative grammar - word order and thought patterns

Question 2

How does animal communication differ from language?

Answer 2

• able to communicate information about their own emotional state
• able to communicate some information about the worlds eg. alarm calls (not arbitrary)
• NO evidence of emergent properties (getting more complex/better over time)

Question 3

What is generative grammar?

Answer 3

Finite number of elements can be rearranged with properties distinct from their elements. Discrete combinational system

Question 4

What is language composition similar to?

Answer 4

Genetic code - 4 nucleotides rearranged to make infinite number of genes

Question 5

What is Chomsky’s view on language?

Answer 5

Not a cultural invention - an instinct, but one which is incompatible with Darwinian evolution

Question 6

What is Pinker’s view on language?

Answer 6

An instinct, compatible with Darwinian evolution but still irrevocable separating humans from all other animals

Question 7

Who invented the idea that language in an instinct?

Answer 7

Noam Chomsky

Question 8

What is the evidence that language is an instinct?

Answer 8

Develops spontaneously without formal instruction
Children turn pidgin into creole
Children invent own generative grammar without imitation
Deaf children invent own sign language
All human languages have the same deep structure not the same formal grammar
No tribe ever discovered without language
Distinct from the ability to process information or behave intelligently
Identifiable part of human brain (lower frontal lobe in LH)
Wililams syndrome and Alzheimers - poor cognitive ability but good speech

Question 9

Give examples of conditions where cognitive ability is affected but speech is not

Answer 9

WIlliams syndrome, Alzheimers

Question 10

What is Orwell’s view (1984) on language?

Answer 10

Thoughts predetermined by the language available

Different languages cause different thoughts

Question 11

Which culture doesn’t have the word we?

Answer 11

Cherokee - different words for me and her, group in room, whole population etc.

Question 12

What evidence opposes the alternative view?

Answer 12

Thoughts are already there - babies have cognitive representation but no language
Adults claim to think in images (Einstein)
Some disciplines eg. particle physics can only be described using a taught language (maths)

Question 13

How does psychotherapy work?

Answer 13

Allows rhetoric constraints to be put on abstract ideas and thoughts

Question 14

What is the purpose of language?

Answer 14

Translating thoughts into communication - not perfect, thoughts and percepts are richer as several concepts surround an individual word

Question 15

What is “the code”?

Answer 15

Deep biological structure common to all languages - sentences are not just learned sequences

Question 16

What are the different aspects of the code?

Answer 16

Head phrase - whole sentence is about this
Noun phrase eg. the happy boy
Verb phrase eg. eats icecream
A bar eg. will - can be added anywhere to complexify meaning

Question 17

What are the two types of words in language?

Answer 17

Content and function
Content words easy to add new ones/alter
Function words difficult to alter/add new words

Question 18

Up to why age can language deprived children develop speech?

Answer 18

6 years

Question 19

How is learning facilitated?

Answer 19

Adults emphasise grammar over word complexity eg. what did he eat? he ate his dinner

Question 20

Why can apes not talk?

Answer 20

Anatomy of vocal tract

Question 21

Who suggested apes could be taught sign language?

Answer 21

Yerkes

Question 22

Who taught Washoe ASL?

Answer 22

Gardner 1960s

- within ten years she had aquired over 100 signs (mostly requests)

Question 23

What were the apes taught to use symbols supposed to be revealing evidence of?

Answer 23

Grammar

Question 24

What is the likely explanation of symbol and signing in primates?

Answer 24

S-R Association and chaining, operant training and reinforcement - not creative

Question 25

What is the Clever Hans effect?

Answer 25

Interpreting subtle signals form trainer/owner/experimenter interpreted as knowledge

Question 26

Who studied Nim Chimpsky?

Answer 26

Herbert Terrace 1973

- Imitated word order used by experimenters

Question 27

What did Sherman and Austin study?

Answer 27

Use and understanding of words rather than whether apes have a language or use of grammar

• arbitrary symbols (still operant conditioning?)
• impressive feat of naming object before giving it to experimenter

Question 28

Which chimp did Savage-Rumbaugh study?

Answer 28

Kanzi
Mother was keyboard trained, he was not but picked up knowledge of symbols as a child would ?
- majority of multi-words were spontaneous not imitated
- combinations indicate meaning that individual words lack
- Rules should generalise
- Order important
- Some creativity

Question 29

What was Pinker’s view on Kanzi?

Answer 29

Abilities are only just above those of conspecifics