PROF. GERALD MURRAY DEPT. OF ANTHROPOLOGY U. OF FLORIDA Communication: human and non-human

Modes of communication: Vocal, gestural, facial, somatic Vocal basis of human speech and primate calls Non-vocal (and non-verbal) communicative modes. The dance of the bees Facial gestures Hand gestures. E Body language However: 99% of human communication is done through speech.

The phenomenon of “unconscious rules” Prescriptive vs. descriptive rules Human children identify and learn language “rules”. The rules are unconscious. Compliance is spontaneous. There are “linguistic rules” and “cultural rules”.

Levels of linguistic rules Phonological rules: the pronunciation of sounds. Morphological rules: the modification of words. Syntactic rules: the ordering of words in sentences

Phonological rules Example of the “t” in American English  top, stop, water, button Example of the “i” vowel in Mandarin 七 qī 吃 chī 呬 xì 四 sì Technical term: allophones.

Morphological rules The required modification of words. The regular plural in English nouns. (“declension”)  Books, bags, bridges The third person singular verb. (“conjugation”)  walks, runs, judges Morphological changes: largely absent in Mandarin.

Cultural rules Examples of cultural rules relating to language. “Communicative competence” The rules can be consciously taught by adults to children

The biological basis of speech Lungs and “hot air” expulsion. The human mouth: articulatory apparatus The human brain We will examine these in greater detail.

The Primate origins of human vocalization

Chimpanzee facial expressions

Evolution of human cerebral capacity (Note: habilis is now called Homo)

Design Features of Human Language FeatureHuman LanguagePrimate Calls Role of learningHeavy, essentialLight, non-essential Number of callsOpenClosed IntentionalityHeavyQuestionable EmotivityLowHigh Role of genesOnly in capacityMessages programmed ImmediacyOften (or usually) displacedGenerally required Structure of signalsHierarchically organizedNo internal organization.