Language

Human Language  Can be divided into two types:  Natural Language – Language we learn to speak from an early age  Constructed language – Languages that are “made up” (computer programming languages, etc)

Why did humans start to talk?  We have the physiological ability to talk  Our larynx is situated relatively far down our throat, which allow us a much wider range when it comes to articulating noises.  Anthropologist Robert Lewin has suggested that new technology used by humans, such as stone tools used to hunt, was one of the “driving forces” in the evolution of the brain.  There was a need to name and label the different tools and methods used to construct them, and this need occurred at the same time as the brain was enlarging

 Another possible cause – language arose out of a more complex social world, where relationships and interactions were becoming more sophisticated.  Of course, there is no real reason why all these reasons together could not be the reason for the appearance of language.

 “This triad – language, social cooperation and technological know-how is what makes humans unusual. And they probably evolved in tandem, each of them multiplying the value of the other two.” – Steven Pinker  But, nobody can be sure how or why humans developed the use of language. We can only hypothesize.

Questioning the relationship between us and language: the Edinburgh University Evolution Experiment  So far, we assumed that language was invented by humans, then developed as our need for more complexity has increased. – Our brains have adapted to be good at learning languages  But, the experiment at Edinburgh University examines that language has done the adapting

 “Language, because it is culturally transmitted, is an evolutionary system in its own right. Many of the adaptive features of linguistic structure arise from this process rather than having to be encoded specifically in our genes. Of course, the human brain provides the essential scaffolding for the cultural evolution of language in the first place, but it need not specify all the details innately.”

Does the extent of our language = the extent of our knowledge?  1984 reading

Does the extent of our language = the extent of our knowledge? The thinking here is clear: if we don’t have words for a concept of thing, then we cannot conceive of a concept or thing. It is one of the key knowledge issues inherent to language, and needs thinking about in some detail