Lecture 10 Language Flashcards
Two core COMPONENTS of language?
Word meaning - symbolic reference
Syntax - rules for combining words into sentences
Two core FEATURES of language?
Displacement - ability to refer to things that aren’t really here (past and present, can be hypothetical)
Productivity - infinite set of possibilities, can crest unique nice sentences with rules and express new ideas
What is a non symbolic form of reference?
Paralinguistic cues
Laughing, facial expressions, gestures, alarm calls….?
What are peirce’s three modes of reference?
The means by which one thing brings to mind another thing
ICONIC, INDEXICAL and SYMBOLIC
What is iconic reference?
Based on physical similarity (resemblance) between the sign and what it signifies
Eg portraits
Re-cognise - when we see similarity of a sign with what it means
Re-present - when we see something that represents something else and we represent it in our mind
What is Indexical reference
Based on physical or temporal coo currency between a sign and what it signifies
- alarm calls INDICATE presence of predator
Words can be used indexically when they point directly to their meaning: here, there,me
Initially words are indexical when kids learn then, later becomes symbolic
What is symbolic reference?
Based on some formal or agreed upon link (social convention)
Irrespective of physical characteristics and any temporal continuity between sign and object.
Which layer of language is grounded in the lower layers?
Symbolic
It relies On the prior establishment of iconic and Indexical layers
What were the vervet monkey alarm calls like, and were they words in a language?
They use signals, a system of alarm calls to talk about predators.
3 distinct alarm calls that were specific to the diff predators (eagle, snake, leopard)
How does learning symbols Take place?
First children will need to learn initial correlations between the words and its referent in space and time, and iconically.
Can also pair the word with iconic gestures.
Then they should move on to shift their attention from the cooccurrence of the word with the item in time and space, and instead, focus on the relationship of the words with other words.
What is interference in language learning?
When children overextend a word to other referents
Like a cat is everything furry eg a dog.. Wrong.!!
Could Nim use symbolic language?
-
What did she savage rumbaugh do with chimps?
Believed that Nim was trained using circus training techniques and focussed too much on the production of the word.
Trained chimps using a touch screen technology.
Focussed on comprehension and symbolic reference rather than syntax
Used lexigrams - abstract signs
Paired the occurrence of the a banana
What tasks did savage-rumbaugh do to see that chimps could communicate with language?
Used a hiding task - got chimps to tell each other what was inside a container so that they could share the food
(One chimp saw what sue put in the container)
Basis of theory of mind
Put food in a container that needed a specific tool to open it
One chimp in one room had to press a lexigram to ask the other chimp who had tools to bring it to him to share the food
Difference between Sherman and austins communication, and jack and Jill (pigeons)?
Sherman and austins behaviour was displayed in first trial, on the basis of preceding work done to establish language….
The pigeons were taught each step in sequence and were not required to be aware of what the other was doing
