English 306A; Harris

Everything has meaning.Everything.

English 306A; Harris

All meaning involves bothinformation and emotion

English 306A; Harris

Language

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

shape us as humans

English 306A; Harris

We’re mammals

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

English 306A; Harris

We have special larynxes

Functions• Controls airflow

• Phonates

English 306A; Harris

We have special larynxes

Functions• Controls airflow • Phonates

(Glottis)

English 306A; Harris

Glottis

Glottis• Air flow• Phonation (voicing)

English 306A; Harris

Glottis

Glottis• Air flow• Phonation (voicing)

English 306A; Harris

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

English 306A; Harris

Lower tongue root + larynx =

• Consonants and vowels(big flappy lips help too)

• Syllables• Patterns of rhythm and

modulation

English 306A; Harris

Lower tongue root + larynx =

Speech

English 306A; Harris

Oh, and one more thing

English 306A; Harris

Oh, and one more thing

A brain

English 306A; Harris

Oh, and one more thing

Auditory cortex

Broca’s area

Wernicke’s area

Motor cortex

English 306A; Harris

Motor cortex

English 306A; Harris

Auditory cortex

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

20,000 Hz range• Discriminates phoneme

boundaries

English 306A; Harris

Language areas

Broca’s area

Wernicke’s area

‘Conceptual’

‘Grammatical’

English 306A; Harris

Language properties

ParityUniversalityMutabilityTacitnessDisplacementDualityProductivity (creativity)

English 306A; Harris

Parity

All languages are equal.

English 306A; Harris

Universality

All grammars share some basic properties.

•Words• Nouns• Verbs

•Sentences • Assertions• Questions

•Semantic roles• Agents• Patients• Locations

English 306A; Harris

Mutability

Languages change.

cool neat groovy far-out radical cool

English 306A; Harris

Tacitness

A great deal of grammatical knowledge is tacit knowledge.

[p] vs [ph] vs [p¬]

English 306A; Harris

Charles Hockett’s ‘Design Features’

ParityUniversalityMutabilityTacitnessDisplacementDualityProductivity (creativity)

English 306A; Harris

Charles Hockett’s ‘Design Features’

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

English 306A; Harris

Charles Hockett’s ‘Design Features’

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

English 306A; Harris

Displacement

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

English 306A; Harris

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

English 306A; Harris

Elements + combinatorics =

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

English 306A; Harris

Elements + combinatorics =

Language

English 306A; Harris

Language has special properties

General• Parity• Mutability• Universality• Tacitness

Conceptual• Displacement• Duality of patterning

• Elements and combinatorics

• Productivity

English 306A; Harris

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

English 306A; Harris

Any questions?

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

shape us as humans