Language

Language The spoken, written, or gestured words/symbols a group uses to communicate meaningfully

Parts of Language Semantics – What words mean Symbol – sounds, written words or gestures. Connection between symbol and its meaning is arbitrary or random making language flexible. Meaning of symbols must be shared by others in order to communicate. Semantics – What words mean Syntax – How we combine words. Phonology – How language is produced Generative – able to generate an unlimited number of different phrases and sentences. Displacement – ability to communicate about items, ideas and activities that are not physically present.

Building Blocks of Language

Structure of Language

Phoneme The smallest distinctive unit of sound of a spoken language English has about 40 phonemes. A young baby produces all the phonemes of all the languages of the world.

Phonemes Play “Infant Speech Sound Discrimination” (4:03) Segment #23 from The Mind DVD Is there a critical period for being able to recognize different sounds within a language? Is this nature or nurture?

Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience activates them as it modifies the brain

Morpheme The smallest unit, in a language, that carries meaning May be a word or part of a word English has about 100,000 morphemes.

Grammar A system of rules governing how one can combine morphemes and words and arrange them in sentences to communicate with others Gleason’s Wug experiment shows how kids apply grammar to new concepts (1:10). Noam Chomsky explains (1:30).

Sign Language & Grammar Watch “Human Language: Signed & Spoken” from The Mind DVD Segment 25 (6:04). Does sign language use grammar? Which areas of the brain are used for sign language? Do users of sign language use different areas of the brain?

Thinking and Language Together

Language and Thinking Language is a system for combining arbitrary symbols to produce an infinite number of meaningful statements Linguistic relativity hypothesis is the notion that difference among languages cause difference in the thoughts of their speakers

Linguistic Relativity (Whorfian) Hypothesis Hypothesis that one’s language determines one’s thoughts & perceptions about their world. Proposed by Benjamin Whorf (1897-1941) This thought to be wrong. Instead, our perceptions & thoughts influence the language we use to describe those words. (Rosch’s Dani color perception experiment pg. 294) Cognitive psychologists today studying how language can influence perception & thought. Some concepts may be easier to learn or express in one language than another. (counting 10-20 in English & Chinese)

Language’s Influence on Social Perception Language & Social Perception – nuances of words can influence our social perception of others reinforcing or minimizing negative stereotypes. (i.e. jock vs. athlete). Language & Gender Bias – using masculine pronouns tends to produce images of males and exclude females.

How would you refer to a(n) _______ if you wanted to convey a positive or negative connotation? Smart Person Farmer Women’s Rights Advocate Person Who Tends To Save Money Politician Self-Confident Person Lawyer

Pragmatics How Language is used in everyday settings. This helps us understand ambiguous language Example: “Could you pass the salt?” Is not a question of whether you are capable of lifting the salt shaker.

Examples of Ambiguous Language There is a fork in the road ahead. California is a great state despite its faults. The car was stopped by the tree. This is my old friend. The shooting of the teacher was terrible. Never threaten someone with a chainsaw. Norman Rockwell painted me on the front porch.

Norman Rockwell painted me on the front porch.

Norman Rockwell painted me on the front porch.

Norman Rockwell painted me on the front porch.

Paradoxes in the English Language Why does night fall but never break and day break but never fall? Why can homework be done in school? Why are people who ride motorcycles called “bikers” and people who ride bikes called “cyclists?” Why can your nose run and your feet smell? Why are boxing rings square? Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway? Why does quicksand work slowly? Why is phonetic not spelled phonetically?

Washington Post Alternative Meanings Contest Coffee (n.): - a person who is coughed upon. Flabbergasted (adj.): - appalled over how much weight you have gained. Willy-nilly (adj.): - impotent. Testicle (n.): - a humorous question on an exam.

Washington Post Alternative Meanings Contest Negligent (adj.): - describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown. Oyster (n.): - a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions. Abdicate (v.) - to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

Washington Post Alternative Meanings Contest Flatulance (n.): - the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller. Circumvent (n.): - the opening in the front of boxer shorts.

Doublespeak - language deliberately constructed to disguise its actual meaning Revenue enhancement - tax increase Inoperative statement - lie Social expression products - greeting cards Media courier - newspaper carrier Negative patient care outcome - death

Doublespeak Period of accelerated negative growth - recession Underground condominium - cemetery Oral hygiene appliance - toothbrush

Language & The Brain

Language and the Brain Play “Language Processing in the Brain” (6:19) Segment #8 from The Mind DVD What areas are active when reading? What areas are used for reading aloud? What areas are used for the word association task?

Language and the Brain Play “Old Brain, New Tricks” (11:00) Segment #8 from Scientific American Frontiers DVD What areas of the brain are being used as you process language? Do adults and children under 4-5 process language in the same ways? Is there a critical time to learn a second language if you want to speak it like the natives?

New language learning gets harder with age

Animal Communication

Animal Communication Animals clearly communicate with each other, but is that language? Rumbaugh’s bonobo chimp experiments with Kanzi show that chimps can reach language comprehension of roughly a 2 ½ year old human (pg. 295) Louis Herman trained bottlenose dolphins to respond to sounds and gestures. Irene Pepperberg trained Alex the parrot a 100-word vocabulary and he can answer questions with phrases Karl von Frisch & the dance of the honeybees

Do animals think? Scientists caution to assume animals can “think” or have self-awareness.

Is it Language? – Chimps taught sign language. Washoe (click to learn more) 200 signs New phrases (open eat drink, dirty good) Chimps teaching chimps Nim Chimpsky 20,000 signs, half of which were two-sign combinations. At a first look, his signing appeared to be structured, but in fact most just repetitive. “Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you.” Chimps can also use simple hand signals: ABC News Report (1:30)

Animal Language Play Segment 19: “If Only They Could Talk” (10:07) from Scientific American Frontiers DVD What is the Clever Hans Effect? How do researchers guard against this? See more on Alex the Parrot: Video 1(3 minutes), Video 2 (2 minutes) If Time Allows: Play “Animal Language” (14:39) Segment #27 from The Mind DVD. Do animals like Chimps possess language skills? Do Chimps show a culture like that of humans?