Some Fundamental Points of Language

Some General Concepts About Language Wherever humans exist, L exists Language is systematic & very complex Different languages are very diverse but also share universal properties Speech is primary, writing is secondary Children ACQUIRE and are not TAUGHT their L1 Every language changes as time passes

Some Myths About Language Some L are primitive Writing is more perfect than speech French is romantic, German harsh, English hard to learn Swearing degrades a language Sloppy speech should be avoided - Some L are primitive, by only having a few hundred words - Writing is more perfect than speech - People who say “nobody ain’t done nothing” can’t think logically - French is romantic, German harsh, English hard to learn - Kids need to study in school to learn to speak “properly” - Every L distinguishes singular from plural by adding an ending to the plural - All Asian L are dialects of the same L - Swearing degrades a language - Correct spelling preserves a language - The more time parents spend teaching their children English, the better their children will speak - Sloppy speech should be avoided

Speech versus Writing Why does ling consider speech primary? Writing is a later development Writing does not exist everywhere, spoken L does Writing must be taught, one can still communicate using language without being literate

Different Definitions of “Grammar” Mental Grammar Unconscious rules of L that allow us to construct grammatical utterances (plural /-s/ in English) Descriptive Grammar Linguists’ descriptions of the rules of L Prescriptive Grammar The “proper” or “correct” way to use language You might be asking - So why is a linguists description of rules not the same as the “proper” ways to use language What are some reasons you think the two are different?

Prescriptive v. Descriptive Grammar “Right” v. “wrong” Casts value judgments Tries to force specific L variety Descriptive Accounts for observed rules/patterns Unbiased Allows for different varieties In prescriptive grammar the rules that are deemed correct are prescribed to the language; this grammar does not describe how the language is used. Descriptive grammar describes your basic ling knowledge. It explains how it is possible for you to speak and understand, and it tells what you know about your language in all the areas; sounds, phrases, etc.

Is a prescriptive variety necessary? Helps establish a ‘standard’ for cross-dialectal communication Second language learning Marking social distinctions The next subject I want to move on to deals with social distinctions in the terms of “situation dialects” which are called registers

Everyone uses several registers: What is a register? Professional Peer group Motherese What is a register? A register is defined as a functional speech variety , functional speech varieties are bits of talk that are appropriate to particular speech situations Motherese – a type of speech that is typically addressed to young children (caregiver speech) With all that said I want to discuss the reading for today a little

Language Statistics How many languages are there? Which languages have the most speakers and which are more official? What some people think about English

Animal Communication Observations from File 2.3 “Primate Studies” We share 99% of genetic material with the great apes, yet that 1% difference is responsible for human’s ability to “speak” Gua versus Donald Various styles of teaching communication were mentioned in this section. I would like to briefly go over the different ones that were mentioned. The earliest project dealing with animal communication and human communication Gua versus Donald Where even though Gua was being raised in the same enviro as Donald the language development was not the same between the two. So it is not the case that the reasons chimps don’t use language in the same sense as humans is because of lack of exposure to it in their enviro

Animal Communication cont. Viki: female chimp taught to “vocalize” Washoe and Koko: From human speech sounds to ASL Sarah: language board ‘sentences’ Lana: lexigrams Viki: female chimp taught to “vocalize” through training, unlike Gua who did not receive direct training Yet in 3 years she was only able to “speak” 3 words Again not comparable to human language The next few studies presented seemed to have greater accomplishments and success Washoe acquired 132 signs and supposedly invented combinations similar to Koko who was said to know hundreds of signs while also inventing her own combinations also In the case of Sarah it was claimed that she knew some category names and concepts Then in another approach, Lana had minimal human contact and was taught to use symbols as language through a computer

Animal Communication cont. Still the main questions is Did these chimps acquire human language? The chimp “Nim Chimpsky” Use of language: use of grammar Mental referents, symbols we conjure when we think of a word Even with all these studies and the claims made by them there still is the question as to whether or not these chimps actually acquired human language Herbert Terrace viewed the use of grammar as evidence for use of human language Use of language: use of grammar So in comes another chimp named Nim Chimpsky Even though he learned 125 signs there were still many differences between his use of signs and that of human language, and there was no evidence that he knew any grammar So were still left with many questions, hopes, criticisms But one of the last projects mentioned seems to be a step in the right direction in the case of using an arbitrary symbol to represent something, in other words mental referents Mental referents, symbols we conjure when we think of a word Humans do this with language, but how are we to know if an ape does or can Any thoughts…….questions Future research is needed