English 306A; Harris Everything has meaning. Everything.

English 306A; Harris

Everything has meaning.Everything.


All meaning involves bothinformation and emotion


Language

• Humans are built to accommodate language• Language has some special properties that

shape us as humans


We’re mammals

Distinctive traits include• Lactation• Mammalian “isolation cry”• Neoteny• Middle ear• Larynx


We have special larynxes

Functions• Controls airflow

• Phonates


We have special larynxes

Functions• Controls airflow • Phonates

(Glottis)


Glottis

Glottis• Air flow• Phonation (voicing)


Glottis

Glottis• Air flow• Phonation (voicing)


Larynx, tongue, Heimlich

Apes, australopithecus, babies• Tongue rooted in mouth• Larynx behind mouth• Can breathe and swallow at

the same time

Adult homo erecti +• Tongue rooted in throat• Larynx in throat• Cannot breathe and

swallow at the same time


Lower tongue root + larynx =

• Consonants and vowels(big flappy lips help too)

• Syllables• Patterns of rhythm and

modulation


Lower tongue root + larynx =

Speech


Oh, and one more thing



A brain



Auditory cortex

Broca’s area

Wernicke’s area

Motor cortex


Motor cortex


Auditory cortex

Tuned to language• Highly sensitive in the 5,000 -

20,000 Hz range• Discriminates phoneme

boundaries


Language areas

Broca’s area

Wernicke’s area

‘Conceptual’

‘Grammatical’


Language properties

ParityUniversalityMutabilityTacitnessDisplacementDualityProductivity (creativity)


Parity

All languages are equal.


Universality

All grammars share some basic properties.

•Words• Nouns• Verbs

•Sentences • Assertions• Questions

•Semantic roles• Agents• Patients• Locations


Mutability

Languages change.

cool neat groovy far-out radical cool


Tacitness

A great deal of grammatical knowledge is tacit knowledge.

[p] vs [ph] vs [p¬]


Charles Hockett’s ‘Design Features’

ParityUniversalityMutabilityTacitnessDisplacementDualityProductivity (creativity)



There is...a sense in which [productivity], displacement, and duality...can be regarded as the crucial, or nuclear, or central properties of human language.



There is...a sense in which [productivity], displacement, and duality...can be regarded as the crucial, or nuclear, or central properties of human language.


Displacement

Messages can refer to things remote in time and space, or both, from the site of the communication.


Duality of patterning

At every level: elements and combinatorics

• Sounds combine into syllables and morphemes

• Morphemes combine into words• Words combine into phrases and sentences• Sentences combine into

turns or paragraphs• Turns combine into

conversations• Paragraphs combine into

texts


Elements + combinatorics =

Productivity (creativity)• New vocables• New words• New sentences• New meanings


Elements + combinatorics =

Language


Language has special properties

General• Parity• Mutability• Universality• Tacitness

Conceptual• Displacement• Duality of patterning

• Elements and combinatorics

• Productivity


Humans have special properties

Humans are wired for language• Hardwired (anatomical)

• Throat, mouth, lips• Ear• Motor, auditory cortex• Language areas

• Softwired (conceptual)• Displacement• Duality of patterning• Productivity


Any questions?

• Humans are built to accommodate language• Language has some special properties that

shape us as humans

English 306A; Harris Everything has meaning. Everything.

Documents

harris larynx

harris tacitness

harris universality

harris parity

harris motor cortex

glottis slide

thing slide

time slide