Week 2-Language and Communication Flashcards
What is the Nativist point of view that language is unique to humans?
Nativists- YES- Language is Innately Unique to Humans-GENETIC CODE DIFFERENT
Animals that share the same genetic code in their DNA base pairs.
Language abilities of humans are remarkably different from animals.(Hierarchy)
Animals LACK a common universal code of communication. Human communication appears remarkably different from that of other living creature.
What would Darwinists argue that language is unique to humans?
Darwinists-NO-Language is a cognitive function-that has evolved.
Animals understand some key words- some communicative ability in animals.
When and how did language evolve-Evolution of language
- Probably sometime between 30,000 and 150,000 years ago. Vocal tract suggests Neanderthal being only able to make a few simple sounds.
- Maybe evolved vocal imitation of movements, gestures, sounds made by things, look and feel of objects. E.g. how small children start to speak i mitating the sounds of animals
- But there is an evolutionary advantage of symbolic vocal communication. e.g., Whistling Language of La -Gomera - El Silbo Gomero (since 1982 UNESCO world heritage).coding for 2 vowels and 4 consonants by changing pitch,duration and rhythm to communicate complex messages over LONG DISTANCES (up to 5km)
According to Chomsky what is the faculty of language in the BROAD sense (FLB)
Existence of some BIOLOGICAL capacity that allows to readily master any (human) language without explicit instruction includes:
- **sensory-motor system (perceives system ear to hear; eyes to read written text; tactile to feel to communicate)TO PERCEIVE A CODED MESSAGE(write something down or express something down)
- **conceptual-intentional system(want to convey a certain message and coceptual understanding the meaning of the message you want to communicate)
- excludes other organism internal systems that are
- necessary but not sufficient for language (e.g., memory, respiration, etc.)
In contrast to FLB what does FACULTY OF LANGUAGE IN THE NARROW SENSE ENTAIL
Is an ABSTRACT LINGUISTIC COMPUTATIONAL system comprised of deep structure / surface structure
DEEP STRUCTURE-THE MEANING YOU WANT TO CONVEY
SURFACE STRUCTURE-THE WAY YOU WANT TO CONVEY
-The deep structure is an abstract level of structural organization in which all the elements determining structural interpretation are represented.
Sentences that have alternative interpretations
Sentences that have different surface forms but have the same underlying meaning.
- Surface structure= how the sentence is actually represented
- deep structure—> abstract level of structural rules representing all elements necessary to understand the meaning–>Some words seem to belong together:{The crazy man} {is jumping} {off the bridge}
- surface structure —>how the sentence is actually presented transformation rules.
Different surface structure BUT same deep structure
-Charlie broke the window.
-The window was broken by Charlie.
One entity always stays the same
What is the RECURSION PRINCIPLE in the faculty of language narrow sense?( deep and surface structure)
Specific transformational rules to go from deep to surface structure
What kind of language exists in the animal world?
Studies:
-Seyfarth et al(1980)-Vervet monkeys
Why do monkeys not have verbal communication?
- Chimpskey Study on chimpanzees
- Saffron et al (2208) Cotton top tamarins
ANIMAL SPECIES POSSUSS FACULTY OF LANGUAGE IN BROAD SENSE BUT LACK FACULTY OF LANGUAGE IN A NARROW SENSE.
Seyfarth et al(1980)-Vervet monkeys have different alarm calls and behaviour of these monkeys is different. Different alarm calls for leopards, eagles, and snakes. Some run away; some call other monkeys; some hide in trees. Infant monkeys give indiscriminate alarm calls but eventually learn to give the right call at the appropriate time. Playing different alarm calls without presence of predators in lab- the vervet’s behaved like in natural environment. So responded to the the alarm call not the sight of the predator. Learnt ability.———>LANGUAGE POSSESSION OF FACULTY OF LANGUAGE IN BROAD SENSE (sensory motor system and intention to communicate) acquired skill.
Results inconclusive in anrrow sense no computational system.
-Anatomical reasons —->Longer oral cavity and much lower larynx in the humans allow a much greater range of sounds to be produced by humans.
-Motor control of the larynx: two areas involved in humans.the superior part is involved in voluntary control—->and does not exist in the monkey brain
Motor areas controlled lips jaws and layrnx. Humans possess two of these areas.
MONKEYS HAVE LIMITED VOCAL COMMUNICATION.
Chimpskey- Sign language for animals. Master 125 signs. Underlying deep structure in sign language in the gorilla suggesting abstract computational system.
On the other hand- semantic content- speaks against faculty of language. Not much of own intiative. COnclusion: Despite long training did not exceed level of 18month human being.
Saffron et al- Comparing 1 year old infants and top tamarins. Used an artificial system to train tamarins. A fixed order. Grammatical and ungrammatical sentences- need to generalise what they learnt to novel sentences. Both can distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences. Hard sentences-ONLY HUMANS CAN DISTINGUISH but tammarins can’t showing they don’t have faculty of language in narrow sense.
Historical Origins of the Wernicke-Geschwind Model
- Broca (1880)found Language impairments in patients with lesions in the left inferior frontal gyrus.
- Wernicke(1974) investigated 10 patients with language impairments (aphasia) in the temperal-parietal junction.
Is Language a unitary phenomenon?
Neurocognitive evidence
Language is not a unitary phenomenon
Speaking, reading, and understanding language recruit underlying basic mechanisms that process phonology, semantics, and grammar.- WE NEED TO LOOK AT THESE PROCESSES rather than language as a whole
