Language & Thinking Flashcards
Why Study Language
Language allows us to communicate ideas from person to person, to transmit accumulated knowledge across generations, know much more than we’ve ever seen (unlike other animals who know only what they see). Despite all these benefits we mainly take it for granted.
Types of Language
Spoken, written and signed (with hands).
Written Language
This is a representation of spoken language which is relatively modern being invented 5000 years ago.
Language Structure
This goes from most simple to most complex which starts with phonemes -> morphemes -> grammar -> syntax -> semantics.
Phoneme
Small chunks of sound which can be combined in order to form words. These aren’t necessarily just letters e.g. ‘ch’. In English there are around 44 with most languages having between 20 - 80. Most of the information is carried out by consonants e.g. there is only 1 difference between ‘boy’ and ‘toy’ however the consonant used gives an entirely different meaning.
Variation in Phonemes
In certain accents and regions phonemes are used differently e.g. ‘to-MAY-to’ vs to-MAH-to’.
Morpheme
These are the smallest meaningful unit of language which are built up of a combination of phonemes. All words are built up of at least 1 of these. e.g. ‘grass’ and ‘hopper’ means 2 in 1 word ‘grasshopper’.
Grammar
The rules of language. How we combine things in order to result in meaning.
Syntax
The order in which words should be organised to form sentences e.g. reorganising a sentence randomly doesn’t necessarily make sense. In English the rule is subject, verb and finally object which isn’t the same as other languages.
Semantics
How we derive meaning from morphemes, words and sentences e.g. ‘I want a burger’ vs ‘I wanted a burger’ where the ‘ed’ rule shows past tense.
Comprehension
Despite the lack of grammatical sense in a sentence many people can decipher the meaning based on the words present. This is very difficult for other intelligences such as AI.
Language Development
The average school graduate knows 80,000 words. After 1 years of age a person will learn 5000 words per year or 13 words per day. The number of words learnt at school are said to be 3 per day.
4 Months Language Development
At this point a child will begin babbling (some of which isn’t phonemes typical to the language in their region) which is independent of language. For all children these sounds are the same suggesting it is genetics based without an effect of social and language norms.
10 Months Language Development
At this point the child is still babbling however many of the phonemes that aren’t found in the language in their region are pruned and lost. This shows the influence of the environment becoming present.
1 Year Old Language Development
At this point the child begins to say single words. This language is very ambiguous e.g. ‘daddy’ which doesn’t have a specific meaning but refers to one thing.
1.5 Year Old Language Development
At this point the rate of learning words increases from 1 word per week to 1 word per day.
2 Year Old Language Development
At this point the child beings to use 2-word (telegraphic) speech. This allows for more meaning to be derived e.g. ‘want juice’. This allows for greater catering for the child due to increased understanding and communication.
Past 2 Year Old Language Development
At this point the child begins to use full sentences. This means a 3-word stage is skipped and full sentences are attempted. The sentences aren’t necessarily grammatically correct however meaning can easily be derived.
How Language Acquisition Occurs
There is an argument of nature vs nurture. In almost all cases these factors are working together. The main argument is to what degree each factor effects acquisition.
Nurture Based Language Acquisition
This is through association e.g. seeing a dog in the street and when the parent says dog this associates it in the childs brain. Imitation e.g. when a child hears a parent say something they repeat. Reinforcement e.g. when a child says the correct word to describe something and are rewarded with positive reinforcement or an incorrect answer being negatively reinforced.
Nature Based Language Acquisition
This is through an area of the brain which is supposed to acquire language. This is known as the language acquisition device which is exposed to language which throughs the devices switches is tuned to the local language (dialect). It is theorised that if you aren’t exposed to language within the critical period ( first 6 years) where the device isn’t set up which prevents you from acquiring language.
Case Study Genie
Discovered in LA in 1970 where she was isolated from civilisation until 13 years old. She was mentally and physically abused by her father and didn’t have language skills because of the isolation. She had learnt minimal language e.g. ‘apple sauce buy store’ where meaning can be deciphered but it isn’t the same as a native speaker. The theory gained from this case is that language can’t be learned after puberty.
Noam Chompsky Theory
A child learns grammar and words that cannot be explained by learning principles e.g. ‘I hate you dad’. This suggests a universal grammar by which all languages have the same underlying structure and all 6000 languages are dialects of this universal grammar.
Nature & Nurture Argument
The idea that the genes have set up a language acquisition device which is then set up by the environmental language inputs. The combination of these things results in language mastery however this is time limited.
Case Study George Orwells 1984
In this novel BIg Brother (the government) uses newspeak in order to control thought e.g. replace bad with ungood. This is also done today with ‘anti abortion’ being ‘pro life’.
Case Study Piraha (Brazil)
These are a hunter, gatherer people who have 3 words for all number with a word for 1, a word for 2 and a word for many. There is a question as to whether they can comprehend numbers greater than 3. The experiment showed that due to the lack of the larger numbers in their language they struggle to comprehend these numbers.
Comparative Psychology
The study of the different psychological processes between species. Common questions in the field would be ‘are animals capable of conscious thought or instinctual thought?’ and ‘do animals have a theory of mind?’ and ‘do animals have a capacity for language?’.
Are Humans Genetically Unique
Humans are genetically closest to chimpanzees (99% of genes are shared). Chimpanzees have a greater relation to humans than they do have gorillas.
Do Animals Think
Sea otters open mussels by bashing them against a rock laid on its stomach. The interesting thing about this behaviour is that when they find an ideal rock they will hold onto it and keep it for its function. This seems to suggest conscious thought and foresight (looking ahead to future scenarios).
Insight Learning
A chimp is put in a cage with a short stick and a piece of fruit placed out of reach with larger sticks placed out of reach. At first the chimp will reach with its arm but once it comprehends the distance as too far it will begin to use the short stick to grab the long stick and eventually the banana. This shows the initial instinctual learning and then conscious thought used to solve the problem. This solution often arrives at the solution after a moment of reflection and quiet suggesting that the problem solution came as an insight.
Chimpanzee Numeracy
Chimps are presented with 2 pairs of food containers with different numbers of food. The chimp always chooses the boxes with larger amounts of food. This present the idea of numeracy skill because the chimp can add the totality of food and pick which is larger. Even after 20 minutes the chimps can remember which box had more food which shows an excellent memory.
Theory of Mind
Great apes have self-consciousness (appreciation of ones own mind). This is seen through self-recognition as they explore themselves in mirrors and can identify marks that didn’t belong on it (when a red dot is placed on it). The question is then whether they are conscious of other minds (take the perspective of another).
Humans Theory of Mind
A child develops a theory of mind at 4 years. In this experiment a child is shown a tube of smarties with pencils when asked what they think is in the tube they say smarties and when they are shown its pencils. They are then asked what other children will think is in the tube and they say pencils at 3 years and younger as they only understand what they have seen and don’t consider other peoples perspectives.
Field Work Deception
Deception requires a theory of others minds. Chimps are capable of deception as baby chimps with food are concerned about its food being stolen. The baby will deceive its mother into thinking they have been attacked and the mother will chase off all the other chimps leaving the food of the baby safe from theft. This shows chimps have a theory of others minds.
Other Minds Lab Study
A chimp is presented with 2 people who have food with one person able to see and one unable to. The chimp can beg for food from either person through a hold in the perspex with a gesture. Human children older than 4 will not beg from a blind experimenter. Chimpanzees are equally likely to beg from a blind experimenter which shows they don’t have a full appreciation of other minds.
False Belief Tasks
In a task in which a person is given a false belief to operate on e.g. a zookeeper dealing with a chimp in one of 2 hiding spots without seeing the chimp has left both. The chimps can observe that the zookeeper will go to the spot where he last saw the chimp. The zookeeper is then left out of sight and lead to believe the chimp is in the hiding spot he saw last and the chimps can predict (measured and observed through eye movements) the zookeepers actions of going to the previously seen hiding spot which shows a knowledge of other minds from the chimps.
Culture
In chimps there are 39 local customs relating to grooming, tool use and courtship. These are all the same within groups however will vary between groups which shows cultural diversity. Chimps will invent customs and pass them on which causes these customs to disseminate among the community.
Chimpanzee Cognitive Ability
It is predicted that a chimps cognitive ability is very similar to that of a 2-year-old infant. This is only a provisional measure and may change based on more advanced experiments and tests.
Animal Language
In certain ways animals can communicate e.g. a dog whining however the debate is formed as to whether these communicative displays are indicative of a language.
Criteria for Language
A language must use combinations of sounds, gestures or symbols that are meaningful and not random. It must permit displacement meaning that communication should allow explanations of objects and events that are displaced in time and space (things that aren’t there or that happened before or later). A language must also contain grammar (syntax).
Meaningful
Vervet monkeys have many predators including leopards, eagles and snakes. For each of these predators there are different ways to deal with them. In order to decide the responses required these monkeys have different and distinct alarms for the different predators. The difference and specificity of these alarms shows meaning which is a prerequisite of meaning.
Displacement
Explorer bees communicate with other bees using dance (round, waggle and shaking). The direction and duration indicate the direction and distance to food sources. This is what these bees use to communicate about food sources compared to the distance from the hive, the angle in comparison to the sun, the number of landmarks etc.
Spoken Language
There have been attempts to teach chimps spoken language however this was failed. The next idea was to teach sign language which did actually show good results. A chimp called Washoe was able to learn 132 signs in 4 years and Koko a gorilla learned >1000 signs and was the first animal other than a human to have a pet (cat).
Animal Language Abilities
Animals can combine individual signs or symbols into meaningful expressions which appears as a capacity for language. The skepticism sets in with the syntax which was typically very poor. The question of whether animals have language is based on the definition. Most people agree that animals are incapable of inventing a language but are capable of acquiring language skills similar to a 2yo human.
