Language Flashcards
What separates humans and animals?
language vs. communication
humans use language
Describe the Gardner & Gardner (1969) experiment
- Used ASL to train a chimp
- chimp learned 181 signs by 32 years old
Why can’t animals use language in the same way as humans?
they lack human syntax
What are the 5 properties of human language?
- communicative
- arbitrarily symbolic
- structured at multiple levels
- novel utterances
- dynamics
What are phonemes?
single speech sounds
- meaningless on their own
- experience is important
What are morphemes?
smallest unit that is meaningful
Why is syntax important?
- flexibility w/ language
- avoids ambiguity
Describe the Whorfian Hypothesis
- suggests that language determines thought
- words influence thinking + perception
Why is the Whorfian Hypothesis challenged?
because if lang determines thought, then there should be no ambiguity
3 points of evidence for Whorfian hypothesis
- eskimos = have multiple words for snow
- colour perception = light vs. dark
- euphemism
What is the alternative to the Whorfian Hypothesis
- thought determines language
Evidence against the Whorfian hypothesis
- natives people don’t have more words for snow than we do
- colour perception is similar across cultures (Rosch)
