Language Spoken, Gestured or Written words and the way we combine them as we think and communicate Does language truly set us apart from all other species?

The Structure of Language Three Building Blocks of Spoken Language: Phonemes A Set of Basic Sounds Morphemes Smallest Units of Meaning Grammar A System of Rules

What Are Phonemes? PHONEME PHONEME - shortest segment of speech, which, if changed, would change the meaning of a spoken word. /bit/ /bait//beet/ Only 60 phonemes necessary to account for all worlds’ languages! English requires 48 phonemes. Hawaiian requires only 11!

What Are Morphemes? Morpheme Morpheme - the shortest unit of spoken or written language that carries meaning Some morphemes are phonemes (e.g., “I” and “a”) Most are combos of 2 or more phonemes Some morphemes are words (e.g., “bat”)

What Is A Grammar? Grammar Grammar - a system of rules (called semantics and syntax) that enables us to communicate and understand others Semantics Rules we use to derive meaning from morphemes, words & sentences (“-ed” = past tense) Syntax Rules used to order words into sentences

Language Development How Many Words Do You Know? Average High School Grad Knows ~ 80,000 words Schools teach approx 200 words per year BUT You learned approx 5,000 words per year! How Did You Learn All Those Other Words?!?

Language Acquisition Stages (pt 1)Infant 4 Months No Language Can read lips Discriminate “non-native” speech sounds Babbling Stage - includes sounds from many different languages “Native” language babbling Lose ability to discriminate “non-native” speech sounds 10 Months

Language Acquisition Stages (pt 2) 1 Year Approx 2 Years One-Word Stage - sounds used to communicate meaning (e.g., Ma & Da) Two-Word Stage - characterized by Telegraphic Speech (e.g., “Puppy do trick”) Sentences follow rules of syntax

Theories of Language Development Nature vs Nurture B.F. Skinner Language develops due to association, imitation and reinforcement (Operant Conditioning) Noam Chomsky Rate of learning cannot be explained solely by learning principles Brains are “prewired” with a “Universal Grammar” suitable for all languages and dialects

Are We Alone? Can apes be taught “language”? Washoe learned 132 signs by age 4 and 240 signs by age 27 Evidence of creative sentence construction Vocabularies and sentences are simple (2 yr old child) But are apes really using “language”?

I keep trying to tell them, No More Bananas !

So…Can Apes Possess Language? It depends... Verbal or signed expression of complex grammar? No. Communication through a meaningful sequence of symbols? Yes.