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.