Language

Question 1

Language premise

Answer 1

A lot of species have some system of communication
Ex: bee wiggling, complex
Our system–language–similar to animal communication system but also really different to the point that we think human language is a qualitatively diff thing

Question 2

qualities of language

Answer 2

Capable of communicating infinite amount of ideas/info–no limit
Animal systems limited
Communicate idea→ words → sounds, other person decodes sounds→ words → ideas
Semantics

Phonology

Syntax

Pragmatics

Question 3

Semantics

Answer 3

meaning/how we take ideas and put into words (ideas→ words)
The words we say have no necessary relationship with the meaning they encode–most words are totally arbitrary for their meaning
If human history had gone differently we might have different word for boy
And this makes learning lang really hard
It would be easier if there was some connection between concept and word

Question 4

Phonology

Answer 4

Turning words into sounds (words→ sounds)

Question 5

Syntax

Answer 5

How we put words together to make up complex ideas

Question 6

Pragmatics

Answer 6

How we use language in practical ways

Question 7

Are we skilled at semantics? Why is this surprising?

Answer 7

Avg hs graduate knows 45k-60k words
1st bday–>20th bday 6939 days
=avg of 6.5 new words/day (approx 1 /3hr) (but not actually evenly distributed)
Dazzling feat of memory/most word learning we do is effortless
Young children can learn word for rare object after hearing it just once
Lot harder than just described bc parsing problem-

Question 8

parsing problem

Answer 8

we don’t just hear words in isolation, we hear them in sentences “this is a lovely cat” – being able to separate words at spaces is auditory illusion–pause between love and ly longer than between is and a
Have to be able to separate words even tho theres no way to do it auditorily

Question 9

How do kids deal with parsing problem

Answer 9

Kids are really good at listening to statistics of speech stream–they can pick up on subtle statistical properties of their language
U can tell by sound whether something sounds like ur native language or not–what sequence of sounds tend to go together–even young babies are good at this
Some combinations more common than others–babies can pick out common ones

Question 10

Reference problem–

Answer 10

if u point to a pic of dog on blanket and say “gavagai!” you’ll think gavagai means dog so reference problem is figuring out what words refer to–

Question 11

how do babies solve reference problem?

Answer 11

social referencing, novelty matching, intentionality, category assumption

Question 12

Social referencing

Answer 12

At 9 months babies pay attn to what ur looking at when u say the word to see what u mean

Question 13

Novelty matching

Answer 13

Kids dont attach new words to something they already have a name for
If u give them toy pig and unnamed thing and say “hand me blicket” theyll assume unnamed thing is blicket
The more words u know the more u can learn
New words attach to new things

Question 14

Intentionality

Answer 14

Kids focus on things done intentionally

Only take a word to mean what ur implying only if u seem to be doing it intentionally

Question 15

Category assumption/taxonomic assumption

Answer 15

Kids assume new words apply at basic level (show baseball and call it ball; applies it to other three balls)

Question 16

Phonology components

Answer 16

Detection and discrimination, production

Question 17

Detection and discrimination

Answer 17

Challenge here is that sound changes a little bit every time/every time a diff person says the sound–so how do u ignore all of those differences? Can also tell ex: p from b? How do u ignore some differences and not others?
categorical perception; Some languages also have sounds/phonemes that others don’t–japanese dont have a diff between “l” and “r” but english speakers do so japanese speakers often have trouble distinguishing between those in english–universally babies can make all these distinctions but 1 year old babies cant

Question 18

categorical perception

Answer 18

human mind likes to put up with a lot of variation in a sound as long as it doesn’t cross into another sound–voice onset time; only difference between p and b is VOT)

Question 19

voice onset time

Answer 19

exact moment when vocal cords start to vibrate

Question 20

Production

Answer 20

Babies produce vowel like sounds at 6 months old (cooing)
A few month slater (7-9) babbling–syllable like sounds, pieces of things that eventually become words–babies practice this for a long time until they train themselves to produce right sounds
Doesnt just have to do with spoken language–babies raised by deaf parents kind of sign-babble with their hands/fragments of words until they can produce real signs–so language is general enough to include sign language

Question 21

Syntax

Answer 21

word order matters! Syntax is collection of rules that allows us to string together individual words to make complex statements with different meanings
We can produce infinite meanings from finite dictionary/media/vocabulary
We use language as a combulatory system (DNA example; it only uses 4 nucleotides to produce diversity of life)
Noam Chomsky

Question 22

Noam Chomsky

Answer 22

universal grammar–all human languages share some common basic structure (grammar) differences that exist across languages are of a few specific types–small set of basic permutations that determine grammar and then just memorize vocab but syntax is variance on one system
Children spontaneously ‘invent’ grammatical structure
Grammar/rules and meaning/words are totally separable

Question 23

How do children learn rules/syntax?

Answer 23

Instruction? Probably not
Some cultures dont have so much parent child interaction and children resist being taught syntax
Imitation? Probably not
Lot of grammatically incorrect sentence
conditioning/reinforcement?
Prob not/parents dont usually correct syntax
Probably inborn
Sensitive period for syntax
NEED RIGHT INPUT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD and if not theyll never learn syntax
Genie–never learned to speak properly bc she was locked up for so long–she learned vocab but not syntax

Question 24

Grammar/rules and meaning/words are totally separable

Answer 24

“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” perfect grammar and no meaning
Grammar and meaning in separate parts of the brain
Aphasia–problem with language
Broca’s aphasia vs wernicke’s aphasia
Diff parts of brain damaged=diff types of aphasia
broca’s have problems with syntax, not meaning
Understands whats said and connects words with ideas he wants to say but cant string sentence together
Wernicke’s problem with meaning, not syntax
He’s producing complex grammatical sentences but he’s using the wrong words so it doesnt make sense
1400 spoken languages, all languages have identifiable subjects, verbs, objects, suggests deep commonalities
Most language are SVO (like English, subject-verb-object) or SOV (subject, object, verb)
Fewer are vso
<1% are OVS
None are OSV
As baby ur ready to figure out what it is

Question 25

Children spontaneously ‘invent’ grammatical structure

Answer 25

Slaves from diff countries developed pidgin languages–hodgepodge of words from diff languages
Dont really have grammar=doesnt work well for complex ideas
Children would create rich grammatical structure around pidgin language, turning it into a creole (language that borrows pieces of 2 languages but is consistent for universal grammar) like the grammar waiting to come out of children
No deaf schools in Nicaragua so deaf people couldnt interact and then in the eighties there was revolution and one of those changes was the first school for deaf children and they spontaneously invented sign language consistent with grammar

Question 26

Pragmatics

Answer 26

Paul Grice: Use of language practically–if meaning of words is diff
Overall meaning of what ur trying to communicate=pragmatics
The things u imply as u speak=implicature

Question 27

Listeners expect speakers to be:

Answer 27

Informative
Truthful
Relevant
Clear
Unambiguous
Brief
Orderly
Listener will interpret a positively worded rec letter that doesn’t have any relevant information as not having any positive relevant info
Principle of charity–assume goal is same as expectations above
“Mary had a baby and got married”–we assume baby came first “would u be able to”=request “i’m leaving u” “who is he”
Tone of voice/prosody? “ I never said she stole my money” meaning changes depending on which word is emphasized