Language Flashcards
linguistics
analyse the structure of language
psychology
concerned with the processes involved in language comprehension and production
pscholinguistics
studies the psychological processes involved in language - studies how the brain processes language
orthography
accepted use of symbols to represent spoken language - symbols differ and writing systems can represent spoke language at different levels *word *syllabic *phoneme level
what do we mean by language (communication)
primary means of communication and is universal
what do we mean by language (complexity)
involves mastering a large and complex linguistic system
what do we mean by language (levels)
it is structured at multiple levels
what do we mean by language (creativity)
it is productive and creative
does language = communication
no - we can communicate without spoken language eg eye-gaze control
production of language
1) think of something to say
2) select words that express that thought
3) arrange those words into a sequence
4) pronounce the sequence of words
comprehension of language
1) identify the words that are spoken
2) understand the meaning of those words
3) analyze the order in which they are spoken
4) uncerstand the meaning of the entire utterance
order of levels of language
1) syntax
2) morphology
3) phonology
lexicon
words contained in language
syntax
structure and order of words
morphology
words and word formation
phonology
sounds within a language
pragmatics
the context in which we use language
semantics
explains the way the meaning of larger units like sentences and phrases are related to the meaning of the words in the sentences and phrases
grammar
a linguistic system comprising of:
- syntax
- morphology
- phonology
- semantics
what is grammar
a set of rules and principles which allow us to form and interpret words and sentences
the lexicon contains information about
- phonological from
- orthographic form
- meaning
- syntactic category
- morphology
- encyclopaedic knowledge
relationship between a words form and its meaning
is arbitrary
how are the sounds that words are made up of and how are they organised (phonology)
- which sounds can occur together (phonotactics)
- syllable structure
- stress patterns
morphemes (morphology)
- smallest unit of language that can convey meaning
* can be a single word eg and
morphemes (prefixes and suffixes)
many words can be split into parts which include the base or root word with additional affixes (ie prefixes and suffixes)
simple words (morphemes)
a single morpheme eg dog
complex words (morphemes)
2 or more morphemes (eg dogs)
*2 morphemes: base word = dog plus plural suffix -s)
sentence structure
sentences have synatctic structire and there are rules about which words can go where
syntactic rules
when we access a word in our mental lexicon we access not jus tits meaning but also information about its syntactic category and what other syntactic categories it can combine with
syntax
refers to the order of words in a sentence
syntax: word order (1)
to understand a sentence we need to identify:
- the main action
- the subject
- the object
- subject-verb-object
what is the english word order
SVO
what is the Japanese word order
SOV
recursion
enables us to construct never ending sentences from a finite number of rules by embedding sentences inside bigger sentences
what is pragmatics the study of
how we use language in social situations
vervet monkey communication
different alarm calls for different situations
eg. snake = stand on hind legs and look around
bee communication
waggle dance (von Frisch) *communicates the location of food which includes the direction ad distance of the food source
communication
the transmission of a symbol to convey information
language
a representational system
OED
“the system of spoken or written communication used by a particular country, people, community etc, typically consisting of words sed with a regular grammatical and syntactic structure”
Hockett (1960)
- physical properties of spoken language
- framework for evaluating how animal communication systems differ from human language
- all communication systems have some of these features
- some features are more important then others
arbitrariness in language
in human language there is no natural connection between a words form and its meaning
what is the exception to arbitrariness in the human language
onomatopoeic words eg pop
BUT animal cries are often linked to the meaning they express
displacement
in human language we can talk about events that are not confined to the here and now
animal communication and displacement
animal communication doesnt include displacement
ie. things that happen far away or yesterday
creativity/openness (productivity)
the ability to create and understand new messages
what is an important feature of productivity
recursion
creativity/openness (productivity) in animals
animals have a fixed number of signals which are sent in certain situations
BUT - some evidence of productivity in bees’ waggle dance
what are some of the features that separate human language from animal communication systems
- semanticity
- creativity/productivity
- displacement
- internationality
features that separate human language from animal communication systems - creativity/productivity
- syntactic and and morphological rules that allow symbols to be combined to express new meanings
features that separate human language from animal communication systems - intentionality
speakers use language for the purpose of communicating
features that separate human language from animal communication systems - semanticity
symbols (words) stand for something in the world
clever Hans - Pfungst
- horse who was taught to do a variety of tasks
* was possibly reacting to non-verbal cues from his trainer
do animals have the potential to acquire language
yes with appropriate learning experiences - language learning is no different to learning other skills
alex the parrot - pepperberg
- claimed to have vocabulary of 150 words
- could answer simple questions about objects
- BUT limited linguistic knowledge
Gua - Kellog & Kellog - chimpanzees
- understood 70 words
* never produced any words
Viki - Hayes & Hayes - chimpanzeezs
- taught to say ‘mama’, ‘papa’, ‘cup’
* studies were hampered by physiology: chimps have a vocal tract that makes it difficult to produce speech
Washoe - chimpanzees
- attempts using an adapted version of American Sign Language (ASL) were more successful
- taught a language based on ASL by having hands moulded into signs
- all communication was by ASL
- By age of 4 she could produce 85 signs and by the age of 20 - 240 signs
Washoe - combined signing terms eg
‘washoe sorry’, ‘roger tickle’
Washoe - generalised eg
‘more tickle’ to ‘more milk’
Washoe - possibly showed productivity eg
‘water-bird’
Nim - Terrace -chimpanzees
- taught language based on ASL by having hands moulded into signs
- learnt 125 signs in 44 months
- able to use two,three,four sign utterances eg ‘eat drink eat drink’
- BUT characterised by repetition and lacked rules of grammar or conversation
Nim conclusion
- Nim did not learn language
- suggested Nim imitated his teachers to get rewards
- imitation of gesture together with a random ‘utterance’ eg ‘you me banana me banana you’
why use Bonobos monkeys
*bonobos vocalize in communication more frequently than common chips d and are highly social
Kanzi - Bonobos
- learned the artificial (Yerkish) he saw taught his mother on Lexigram board and was able to understand some spoken language
- by 46 months had learned 50 symbols and his understanding of spoken english was comparable to a 2 year old child
Kanzi - Bonobos info
- was not explicitly taught the symbols - initially learned by watching his mother
- much younger when he was first exposed to language than other chimps studies
- his claimed semantic and syntactic abilities have been questioned
summary: animal communication - vocan
limited vocabulary
summary: animal communication - little evidence of
- syntax
- morphology
- creativity
summary: animal communication - some evidence of
- displaced reference
* transmission of language to next generation
why wasnt there more success in teaching chimps language
- domain -specificity
* language must me learner though social interaction with others
why not more success - domain-specificity
language is a specialised module that humans have and primates do not (nativist/generativist viewpoint)
why no more success - language must be learned through social interactions with others
chimps ability to learn from others is limited - dont seem to collaborate
Falculty of language recent debates - language has 2 components - Hauser,Chomsky & Fitch
- Broad (FLB)
* Narrow (FLN)
Broad (FLB) - language has 2 components
the capacity to acquire language - FLB is what distinguishes humans from animals but at the same time the biological capacity underlying the FLB is assumed to be shared with animals
Narrow (FLN) - language has 2 components
is a subset of FLB that includes only those abilities that are unique to language and to humans
FLN (Saxton)
aspects of language that are special to language
FLB (Saxton)
mechanisms used for language but:
- shared with non-human animals
- not exclusive to linguistic abilities and processes
different views of the FLN - Hausre et al
only one property of grammar is uniquely human : recursion
different views of the FLN - Pinker & Jackendoff
a number of aspect of language are uniquely human including: speech perception, speech production, phonology, morphology and syntax
final conclusions - animal communications
animal communications share some of the features of human language
BUT they are less complex than human language
final conclusions - differences
there are clear differences in what aspects of language can be acquired and how they can be acquired
