Languagecrash course

A means of communication.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch taem at Cmabrigde Uinevtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Such a cdonition is arppoiately cllaed Typoglycemia.(Actually, no such research was carried out at Cambridge University. It all started with a letter to the New Scientist magazine from Graham Rawlinson in which he discusses his

Ph.D. thesis)

In a puiltacibon of New Scnieitst you could ramdinose all the letetrs, keipeng the first two and last two the same, and reibadailty would hadrly be aftcfeed. My ansaylis did not come to much beucase the thoery at the time was for shape and senqeuce retigcionon. Saberi's work sugsegts we may have some pofrweul palrlael prsooscers at work.The resaon for this is suerly that idnetiyfing coentnt by paarllel prseocsing speeds up regnicoiton. We only need the first and last two letetrs to spot chganes in meniang.

Language can be…..

All languages contain….

Phonemes• The smallest units of

sound in a language.• English has about 44

phonemes.

Morphemes• The smallest unit of

meaningful sound.• Can be words like a or but.

• Can also be parts of words like prefixes or suffixes…”ed” at the end of a word means past tense.

How many phonemes does cat have?

Grammar

• The rules of a language.

• Syntax: the order of words in a language.

Is this the White House or the House White?

Language Acquisitionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i1z37nYMrM

Stages that we learn language…1.Babbling Stage– 4 months, spontaneously uttering

various sounds.

2.One Word Stage– Age 1 to 2, speaking single words.

3.Two Word Stage– Age 2, two-word statements.

4.Telegraphic Speech Stage (2 word stage)

4. Overgeneralization (-ed)

Critical Period• Childhood seems to be a critical period for

language acquisition• Deaf children who receive cochlear implants

at age 2 develop better speech skills than a child who receives the implant at age 4

“Genie” – The “Wild Child”

• Update on “Genie” (2008)

How do we learn language?

Social Learning Theory

• B.F. Skinner from the Behaviorist School

• Baby may imitate a parent.

• If they are reinforced they keep saying the word.

• If they are punished, they stop saying the word.

Chomsky’s Theory

• We learn language too quickly for it to be through reinforcement and punishment.

• Inborn universal language acquisition device

Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity

• The idea that language determines the way we think.

• The Hopi tribe has no past tense in their language, so Whorf says they rarely think of the past.

Do animals use language?

Can Apes Really Talk?Apes gain their vocabulary with great difficulty;

children soak up dozens of new words effortlessly. Saying apes can learn language because they can sign words is like saying humans can fly because

they can jump.==================================

==========Chimps can make signs or push buttons in

sequence to get a reward, but pigeons can peck a sequence of keys to get grain.

============================================

Apes can certainly use symbols meaningfully but “ Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange--” is a far cry from the exquisite syntax of a 3 year

old. To a child “you tickle and “me tickle” communicate different ideas; a chimp uses them

interchangeably.(Myers, 2004)