Language & Communication

Communication: Helen Keller ( ): Resident of Alabama Got meningitis or scarlet fever at 19 months old— attacked her brain and stomach—became blind and deaf Learned to use about 60 signs to communicate with family After contacting Alexander G. Bell, she was put in a teaching relationship with a blind teacher, Anne Sullivan, to speed up her signing ability 1890: began process of learning to speak through Tadoma method Learned to read English, German, French, Greek, and Latin in Braille Became accomplished author, speaker, and political activist throughout lifetime Sullivan & Keller

Animal Communication  Odor Ants release chemical odor when they die—causes fellow ants to carry body to compost heap  Body movement Austrian honeybee uses either a round dance, wagging dance, or a short, straight run to communicate sources of food and distance from hive  Sound Apes use exclusive calls for different messages—cannot combine 2 calls to create a 3 rd call with a unique or combined message Closed language: when a language is not able to have sounds or signs combined to create new meanings—language cannot grow  Speech??? Speech Chimpanzees have been taught sign language multiple times, but none have been successful in learning speech In the late 1960s, a couple tried to raise a chimpanzee with their child hoping the chimp would imitate the child—it worked the other way

Koko the Gorilla  Knows over 1000 signs in the American Sign Language  Understands over 2000 spoken English words  Debate over whether Koko truly understands language operant conditioning?????  While being interviewed about Ndume, a chosen mate, she conveyed her unhappiness and feelings of not being attracted by using signs that mean “toilet” and “bad” to refer to Ndume, who also was not sexually attracted to her Koko taking part in an AOL Internet chat in 1998—first animal ever to do so

Origins of Language  Written language only 5000 years old Spoken languages before that have no record b/c speakers are gone  Open language:

Historical linguistics: study of how languages change over time Protolanguage: hypothesized ancestral language that at least 2 languages would have descended from Proto-Indo-European language: protolanguage of many modern European, Middle Eastern, and Indic languages Offspring languages: Sibling languages: ***Identify offspring and sibling languages on next page.

Where people learn language  Social Interactionism Theory Children learn words per daiy—1 through “direct instruction” Nurture  Relational Frame Theory Nature effects our language acquisition  Emergentist Theory Simple entities operate together to create complex results Combine nature & nurture  Universalist Theory: language is innate (Language Acquisition Device)

Language when cultures clash  Pidgin languages: simplified language many colonial peoples used when in contact with European colonial powers Lacks use of prepositions (to, on) or use of past and future verb tenses Extra words spoken to indicate tense Relies on voice inflections Changes pronunciation of various words African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) African-American Vernacular English  Debate over appropriateness Debate over appropriateness

Dialect/vernacular  Dialect/vernacular: localized versions of a language that reflects the culture of a local area  Major dialects of the American English language: Boston New York City Midwestern New Orleans Creole

Assignment concerning high school vernacular:  Create a dictionary listing 20 commonly used words exclusive to the high school-aged setting. Typed with typical components found in a dictionary (verb, adjective, etc.) EX:  Mad: (adjective); Late 1990s descriptive to mean great, excellent, or tremendous; “He has mad skills on the court.”