Learning Language
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Learning Language
Chapter 9
How is Language Possible?
TheoriesDefining language
Design Features PrimatesAcquisition of Language
Speech SoundsWhen is language possible?…How is language possible?….
Contemporary TheoriesTheoretical linguistics:
Still speculative Language- evolved at once Language- innate feature in humans Children born with universal grammar
Only need to acquire specifics
Linguistic anthropology: Uses all four fields of anthropology
Language too complicated to have developed all at once
Language probably evolved slowly along with culture Children born with ability to learn language
Learning takes place in social situations.
Defining LanguageLanguage Communication
Sending Yes Yes
Receiving Yes Possible
Responding Yes Possible
Socially learned Yes No
Complex grammar Yes No
Lies, games, etc. Yes No
Defining Language
Hockett’s Design Features of language 1960s Defining what is unique to humans Thirteen features
Four are unique to human language.
Design Features of Language
Not Unique to HumansVocal/auditory channelBroadcast
transmission / directional reception
Rapid fadingInterchangeabilityTotal feedbackSpecializationSemanticityArbitrarinessDiscreteness.
Unique to Humans:(according to Hockett)10.Displacement11.Productivity12.Traditional
transmission13.Duality of patterning
/ k + æ + t + s /.
Design Features and the Emergence of Human Language
The idea of blending Combining calls to establish productivity Starting from closed calls (limited, specific)
A + B = A + B danger + food = danger + food
Moving to blended calls (prelanguage) A + B = AB
danger + food = dangerous food breakfast + lunch = brunch
Making duality of patterning possible Isolation of units for recombining
A + B + C = ABC, CBA, BAC, ACB
Primate Communication
Experiments: Chimpanzees Gorillas Orangutans
What this tells us about language Duality of patterning is uniquely human
What it tells us about language origins Pre-language abilities of humans and other
primates probably similar.
Acquisition of Language
Development of linguistic ability is linked to maturation of cognitive processes
Sounds as abstract and arbitrary can be used to stand for objects and ideas
Chomsky (p.247): “speaker’s ability to produce & understand instantly new
sentences that are not similar to those previously heard… It seems plain that language acquisition is based on the child’s discovery of what from a formal point of view is a deep & abstract theory- a generative grammar of his/her language”
Jean Piaget & Lev Vygotsky’s theories Individual cognition & social needs as driving force for language
Children and Language
3 days – recognizing parents’ sounds3 months – cooing, playing with intonation6 months – babbling, playing with sounds
9 months – beginning signs1 year – recognizable spoken words & speak
single words (Holophrastic)15 months – naming “explosion”2 years – simple sentences, displacementThen – negatives, questions, clauses.
Theories about Language in Children
Innatist theories Language hard-wired in brain
Behaviorist theories Stimulus and reward
Cognitivist theories Concepts come first
The theory theory Children observe and build theories
Different languages - different theories?
Complex Grammars
Cognitive development and experiential maturation stimulate children to expand their linguistic abilities
Two important themes:1. Development awareness that organization w/in
sentences is significant2. Transferring learning from one context to others by
processes of analogy & rule generalization.
WHEN is Language Possible?
Connected to HOWInvolves research into brain…And vocal tract…And origins of culture….
The Human Brain
Cortex The convoluted surface of
the brain Two millimeters thick Surface area 1.5 square
yards Contains 100 million
neurons
Oldest part of cortex Controls long term
memory And emotion
Newer part of cortex “Neocortex” Controls language 80% of human brain Divided into lobes
Frontal Temporal Parietal Occipital.
Lateralization & Language
Left hemisphere association calculation analysis language
Right hemisphere touch space music contexts for language
use.
• Two cerebral hemispheres• Connected by corpus callosum
Language Areas of the Brain
Broca’s area Clarity of speech Function words Some word order
Wernicke’s area Understanding
words Producing
sentences.
The Human Vocal Tract
Lowering of the larynx Where vocal cords are located
Lengthening of the pharynx More space for tongue Increased vowel resonance
Differentiation of vowels: [i] [a] [u]Human infants born with high larynx
Begins to lower at three months Reaches adult location by 3-4 years
Except in adult males: further descent at adolescence.
The Fossil RecordEvidence from basicranium
Where muscles attach More curved = lower larynx
Australopithecus (1.5 mya) not curvedHomo habilis (2 mya) no dataHomo erectus (1.6 mya) some curveEarly Homo sapiens (400,000 ya) definite
curveHomo sapiens sapiens (125,000 ya) dittoNeanderthal (130,000 ya) no curve.
Origins of CultureAssociating language with complex
tools evolution of tool design provides clues
complexity of Upper Paleolithic tools requires description (vs imitation)
Associating language with cultural complexity art, music, ritual,
cooperative hunting/childcare.
The Fossil RecordAustralopithecus (1.5 mya) first stone toolsHomo habilis (2 mya) control of fireHomo erectus (1.6 mya) organized hunting?Early Homo sapiens (400,000 ya) shelters,
burialsHomo sapiens sapiens (125,000 ya) knitting,
basketweaving
Neanderthal (130,000 ya) burials, music.
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