Lecture 3

Question 1

What is the vocal - auditory channel of language ?

Answer 1

• spoken language which tends to be the most common type of channel used all over the world

Question 2

Why might vocal auditory channels be dominant ?

Answer 2

-evolutionary idea that it keeps hands free to do other things
- don’t have to look at the person
- greater vocabulary
- motor movement requires more energy
- easier to transmit
Easier to communicate at night

Question 3

What is the manual visual channel of language ?

Answer 3

Sign language

Question 4

What did namy and waxman (1998) learn about the manual visual channel of language?

Answer 4

1) compared 18 and 24 month old hearing children
2) tested how readily kids would respond to and assume gestures from spoken word vs. Sign language
3) would speak new words or use gestures , speak the sentence but replace the noun with a gesture to observe if a child use the gesture as a sign or ignore the sign
4) after they would like up the unfamiliar object and familiar object and ask for the object by using novel words or gestures

Results:
-> 18th month old didn’t discriminate against either language , both speech and gestures were used to identify something

->24 month olds assumed only spoken word could refer to something (phonology pruning?)
Kids who have more experience with the vocal auditory channel tend to discriminate against the manual visual channel

Question 5

What is home sign in deaf kids?

Answer 5

• deaf kids living in a family where others can hear, may be isolated from opportunities for sign schooling

-> in this case, an idiosyncratic manual communication emerges where the family has their own system of sign language , this can actually form a high degree of regulatory , distinct signs for nouns, verbs

Question 6

What are the features of sign language ?

Answer 6

1. Not universal (different gestures depending on the region)
2. Not charades
3. Not a Manuel version of spoken language
4. Not deliberately designed can evolve

Question 7

Does sign language meet the design features for human language? And explain why

Answer 7

1. Semanticity yes- gestures stand for stimuli
2. Arbitrariness yes because
   • there is mutual unintelligibility , it is not universal and signs aren’t icons. The signs with iconic origins are reshaped over time . Many signs don’t have iconic basis
3. Displacement - can use sign language for abstract and not here and now
4. Productivity - can make new words and understand new creations
5. Discreteness -
6. Duality of processing: 45 hand shape primes