PSC132:Language&Cognition

LanguageScience

Thescien)ficstudyoflanguage.

©2010byMa;hewJ.Traxler

TheResearchAgenda

•  Whatdoesoneknowwhenoneknowsalanguage?

•  Howdidwegetthisway?

•  Howdoesanindividualusetheirknowledgewhenproducingorunderstandinglanguage?

•  Howdoneuralsystemssupportlanguagefunc)on?

I.Whatdoesoneknowwhenoneknowsalanguage?

•  Hocke;’sDesignFeatures– Seman/city– Arbitrariness– Discreteness– Displacement– Genera/vity– DualityofPa;erning

(Hocke;,1960,TheOriginofSpeech,Scien/ficAmerican,203,88-96)

•  ComponentsofLanguages– Phonemes Stored– Syllables– Morphemes– Words– Phrases/Clauses– Sentences Generated

•  ComponentsofLanguages– Phonemes Lexicon – Syllables– Morphemes– Words– Phrases/Clauses– Sentences Grammar

“Therulesaren’ttheonesweweretaughtinschool.” --IvanSag

•  Prescrip)veGrammar:CompletelyarbitraryrulesthatyoucanfollowifyouwishtosoundlikeaproperEnglishgentleman.

•  Descrip)veGrammar:Systema)crulesthatdeterminehowpeopleactuallyspeak.

Examplesofdescrip)verulesofEnglish:

“Eachclausecanhaveonlyonemainverb.”***MyGrammarteacherslikedgaverules.

“Verbsgointhemiddle.”*Likedgrammarteachersrules.

Examplesofdescrip)verulesofEnglish:

“Eachclausecanhaveonlyonemainverb.”***MyGrammarteacherslikedgaverules.

“Verbsgointhemiddle.”*Likedgrammarteachersrules.

**Not true for Nicaraguan Sign Language**

“Atheoryofgrammarisatheoryaboutthementalrepresenta)onoflanguage.”--IvanSagetal.,(2003,p.42)Threefunc)onsofgrammars*:1. Order2. Agreement3. CaseMarking

*(Pinker&Jackendoff,2005,Thefacultyoflanguage:What’sspecialaboutit?Cogni/on,95,201-236)

•  1.Order:redwinevs.vinrouge(*winered)

•  2.Agreement:

– Number:girlseatvs.*girlseats

– Gender:eltorovs.*latoro

•  3.Casemarking:

–  Ilikehimvs.*Melikehim.*Ilikehe.

– Япилводкуvs.*Япилводка/Yapilvotkoo/*/Yapilvotka/(Idrankvodkaaccusa)vecase vodkanomina)vecase)

•  ThreeIdeasAboutRecursion

–  It’saCorePropertyofAllLanguages,UniquetoLanguage(Hauser,Fitch,Chomsky,2002)

–  It’saCorePropertyofAllLanguages,Sharedwithothersystems(Pinker&Jackendoff,2005)

– NoneoftheAbove(Evere;,2008)

•  Whatisrecursion?– “Theabilitytoplaceacomponentinsideanothercomponentofthesametype.”

– E.g.,asentenceinsideanothersentence

•  z=Tomlikesbeans.•  y=Susanthinks(z).

•  x=SusanthinksTomlikesbeans.

•  x=(y(z))

•  Whateffectsdoesrecursionhave?

–  Itallowstheexpressionofverycomplexconcepts.–  Itremovesanyupperlimitonthelengthofasentence.

DaveknowsMargaretfeelsBobbelieves…SusanthinksTomlikesbeans.

(a(b(c(d(e(…(y(z))…))))))

•  Isrecursionuniversal?

– PerhapsnotinPirahã(Evere;,2002,2005,2008)

–  Englishsentencewithrecursion:“HandmethenailsDanbought.”

–  Pirahãequivalentexpressionwithoutrecursion.

•  Handmethenails.•  Danboughtthoseverynails.•  Theyarethesame.

(Evere;,2008,p.227)

Photo by E. Gibson of MIT

II.Howdidwegetthisway?

•  3-FactorModel:– Biologicalcharacteris)csofthespecies(phylogeny)

– Matura)onalcharacteris)csoftheindividual(ontogeny)

– Culture/Environment

– Allthreecontributetolanguageability.

II.Howdidwegetthisway?•  Compara)veMethod:Howdohumanscomparetoevolu)onaryancestorsandlivingbiologicalrela)ves?

•  Con/nuity:Modernhumanlanguageresultsfromquan/ta/vechangestomoreprimi/vecommunica/onsystems.

•  Discon/nuity:Modernhumanlanguageisqualita/velydifferentfrommoreprimi/vecommunica/onsystems.

(Lenneberg,1967,Lieberman,2000;Pennetal.,2008)

Therearenodatawhichprovethatotherapesareunabletocommunicatelinguistically.

--E.SueSavage-Rumbaugh

•  StudiesofPrimates1.DianaMonkeys(Cercopithecusdiana)

•  Separate“eagle”and“jaguar”alarmcalls.•  Experiment

–  Play“eagle”alarmcall–  Followwitheitherrealeaglenoises,orrealjaguarnoises–  Responseto“eagle”callismutedfollowing“eagle”alarm–  Responseto“jaguar”growlisextremeagita)on

–  Seman)city?(Zuberbühler,2003;Zuberbühler,etal.,1999)

•  h;ps://youtu.be/MJHb04VM1t8

•  2.KanzitheBonobo(Panpaniscus)– Makesdifferentvocaliza)onsinthecontextofdifferentobjects(e.g.,juicevs.bananasvs.grapes)

(Tagliatelaetal.,2003)

•  3.Chimpanzees(Pantroglodytes)–  NimChimpsky:learnedtomakegestures(seealsoWashoe;seealsoViki)

•  4.Mountaingorillas(Gorillaberingeiberingei)– Kokolearnedtomakegestures

(Gardner&Gardner,1975;Jensvold&Gardner,2000)

Koko Fred Rogers, D.Div.

Top103-gesturesequences,NimChimpsky

•  10.meNimeat•  9.eatmeeat•  8.bananaeatNim•  7.Nimmeeat•  6.bananaNimeat

•  5.grapeeatNim•  4.)cklemeNim•  3.eatNimeat•  2.eatmeNim•  1.playmeNim

(Terraceetal.,1979)

Genera)vity?•  E.g.,Washoe“water”+“bird”

Grammar?WordOrder•  E.g.,Nim:“morex”>“xmore”“givex”>“xgive”

•  Nurture:“Immersion”Mayproducegreaterlanguageabilityinnon-humanprimates.

•  Nature:Butbiologicaldifferencesares)llimportant.

(Brakke&Savage-Rumbaugh,1996a,b)

•  E.g.,bonobovs.chimp(Brakke&Savage-Rumbaugh,1996a,b)– 4-yearstudy– Apesraisedinenrichedenvironment– “Caregiverscommunicatedto(theapes)withspokenEnglishandvisuographicsymbolscalled‘lexigrams.’”

•  Results:– Bonoboproduc)onandcomprehension>chimpanzee

– Bonobolexigramuse>chimpanzee– “immersion”-rearedapesappeartolearnmorethan“operantly”-rearedapes.

“Keepyourstinkingpawsoffme,youdamned,dirtyape!”--CharltonHeston,PlanetoftheApes

•  Differencesbetweenapesandhumans– universalacquisi)oninchildren;variableacquisi)oninapes

– childrenexperimentandinnovate;apescopy– childrenbabble;apesdon’t

•  Differencesbetweenapesandhumans– Asu;erancesgrowlonger:

•  Inchildren:grammarbecomesmorecomplex•  Inapes:signsarerepeated

e.g.,“eatNimeatNim,”"bananameeatbanana,”

“giveorangemegiveeatorangemeeatorangegivemeeatorangegivemeyou”

(Terraceetal.,1979)

•  Differencesbetweenapesandhumans– Humansusewordstocommentandexpressinten/ons

– Apesusegesturesastoolstogetthings*(upto96%ofgesturesarerequests)

(Rivas,2005;Tomasello,2007;Greenfield&Savage-Rumbaugh,1990)

•  Differencesbetweenapesandhumans– Humansapplygramma)calrulesconsistently;Apesapplygramma)calrulesinconsistently

– Apesinterruptfarmorethanhumans

II.  Howdidwegetthisway?LanguageOrigins

•  Anylanguageabili)espresentinmodernapeslikelyexistedinthecommonancestor~5-8millionyearsago.

•  Speechisanadapta)on.– E.g.,ourvocaltractsdifferfromotherapes– Theymakeusvulnerabletodeathbychoking– Theyareideallysuitedtoproducingspeech

•  Producingspeechrequires– Therightkindofvocaltract.

•  Equaldistancefromthelarynxtothetopofthethroatandfromthetopofthethroattothemouthopening

•  Rudimentaryspeechpre-datesthemodernphysicalconfigura)on(Lieberman,2000)

•  Producingspeechrequires– Theabilitytocontrolthespeechapparatus– Rapidchangesinairflow

•  Humanancestors(andapes)lacktheneuralsystemsnecessaryforfinebreathingcontrol

•  Therefore,speechdoesnotpre-datemodernhumans(homosapiens)

(MacLarnon&Hewi;,1999)

•  Physicalchangemaypre-datelanguage–  Increaseinbrain-to-bodymass

– Butselec)onwouldworkagainstanidlelargebrain.

– Andsmallhomosapiensbrainsnonethelesssupportfullydevelopedlanguageabili)es.

•  Proto-wordhypothesis– Word-likeunitsmustbepresentbeforecomplexsequencesemerge.

– “Naminginsight”Possibleproto-wordtypes:– Animalcalls:“Moo”– Exer)onnoises:“Heave-ho”– Lip-smacking:“Yumyum”– Gree)ngs:“Hithere”

Butthere’snodata. (Aitchison,2000)

•  Proto-languages?– Pidgins?

•  Emergeinmodernhumansduetolanguage-mixinginadults(e.g.,HawaiianCreole,TokPisin).

•  Simplerthanfull-blownlanguages.•  Restrictedvocabulary

E.g.,TokPisinExpressions:–  Hanbilongdiwai(treebranch)–  Hanbilongpik(frontlegsofapig)–  Hanbilongpisin(bird’swing)

•  Rudimentarygrammar.–  E.g.,absenceofdeterminers,agreement,auxiliaryverbs,case,tensemarking

(Bickerton,1988;Aitchison,2000)

•  Whatcausedthechangefromproto-speechtoproto-languagetolanguage?TheGene)cBioprogramHypothesis(Lenneberg,1967;Bickerton,1988;Pinker,1994).

•  Gene)cchangesproduceda“languageorgan”

•  Thelanguageorganspecializesinbuildingcomplex,hierarchical(mul)-level),symbolicstructuresthatsupportlanguageproduc)onandcomprehension.

EvidenceforGeneticBioprogram

•  1.HawaiianPidgin&Creole:(Bickerton,1988)Pidgin:“Building-highplace-wallpart-)me-now-)me-and

then-nowtemperatureevery)megiveyou.”

Creole:“Getone[Thereisan]electricsignhighupondawallof

dabuildingshowyouwhat)meantemperatureget[itis]rightnow.”

1.HawaiianPidgin&Creole:(Bickerton,1988)Pidgin:“Nowdays,ah,inside,washiclothesmachineget,no?

Before)me,ah,nomore,see?Andthenpipenomore,waterpipenomore.”

Creole:Thosedaysbinget[therewere]nomorewashingmachine,nomorepipewaterlikeget[thereis]insidehousenowadays,ah?

EvidenceforGeneticBioprogram

2.NicaraguanSignLanguage(LSN)– 1977:centralschoolforthedeafestablished– “First-wave”:standardizedvocabulary,gramma)callyimpoverished

– “Second-wave”:spontaneousaddi)onofgramma)calfeatures

(Emmorey,2002;Senghas&Coppola,2001)

EvidenceforGeneticBioprogram

3.Selec)veLanguageImpairment– NormalIQ– Gramma)calImpairments,including

•  Past-tensemarking:Susaniscryinthechurch.•  Pluralmorphology:“zat” è“zacko”•  AllaffectedindividualshaveabnormalformofFOXP2gene.

(Laietal.,2001;Enardetal.,2002;Gopnik,1990,1994;Gopnik&Crago,1991;Vargha-Khademetal.,1998;Watkinsetal.,2002)

I.Whatdoesoneknowwhenoneknowsalanguage?

LanguageandThought

•  Aretheythesame?

– Watson,Skinner:Thought=sub-vocalspeech“Dowethinkonlyinwords,thatis,inverbalmotorcontrac)ons?My

ownanswerhasbeen:Yes…’thinking’islargelysub-vocaltalking.” --J.B.Watson,1924

–  Ifso:Elimina)ngspeecheliminatesthought

Curareexperiment– 34-year-old,healthyvolunteerinjectedwithcurare– Completeparalysisresults– Couldperceive,remember,andanswerques)ons

________________________________________________________________2:11PM:Curareinjec)onadministeredover15minutes.2:20:Speechnolongerpossible.Canheardis)nctly.S)llabletonodheadandmovehands.2:22:Subjectreportsbymovementofheadthattheexperienceisnotunpleasant.2:26:Abilitytocomprehendandanswerques)onsaccuratelyisindicatedbycorrectnessofreplies

wheninquiriesarerestatedinthenega)veordoublenega)ve.2:45:Subjectnowunabletosignalresponsetoinquiriesduetocompleteparalysis.2:48:Eyelidsmanuallyopened.Subjectstateduponrecoverythathewas"clearasabell"allthis

period.4:50PM:Subjectisabletosituponedgeofbed.Completesubjec)vereportdictated.__________________________________________________________________Alleventsaredirectquotesorparaphrasesoftheoriginalreport.(Smithetal.,1947)

•  “BrotherJohn”– Epilep)cseizures– Episodesuptoseveralhoursinlength– Severelanguagedisrup)on,including“innerspeech”

–  Intact:memory,objectrecogni)on,complextooluse,instruc)onfollowing,mathema)calability

– Thoughtwithoutlanguage

(Lecours&Joane;e,1980)

Languagewithimpairedcogni)on:1.WilliamsSyndrome

“Ilovelisteningtomusic.Ilikeali;lebitofBeethoven,butIespeciallylikeMozartandChopinandBach.Ilikethewaytheydeveloptheirmusic–it’sverylight,it’sveryairy,andit’sverycheerfulmusic.IfindBeethovendepressing.”

–  Individualcan’tdobasicmath,retrieveasmallsetofobjects

(Lightwood,1952;Williamsetal.,1961;Finn,1991;Karmiloff-Smithetal.,1998;Reillyetal.,1990;Thomasetal.,2001;Tyleretal.,1997;Loshetal.,2000)

Languagewithimpairedcogni)on:2.LanguageSavant

– “Christopher”– Learned13foreignlanguages– Can’tlooka�erhimself

Normal People “Brother John,” Curare Subject

Williams Syndrome, Linguistic Down Syndrome Savants

LanguageandThought:LinguisticDeterminism

•  BenjaminLeeWhorf:“Thelanguagewespeakdeterminesthewayweperceivetheworldandthewaywecategorizeconcepts.”

E.g.,“Eskimoshavemanywordsforsnow.”

LinguisticDeterminism•  But:

– Eskimo’sdon’thavemanywordsforsnow.•  “qanik”:snowintheair•  “aput”:snowontheground

– And:There’snoevidencethatEskimosperceivetheworlddifferentlyfromanyoneelse.

(Mar)n,1986;Schultz-Lorentzen,1927;Pullum,1989)

•  And:– Emo)onandcolorpercep)onsimilarworldwide– Despitedifferencesinlanguages,e.g.,colorhierarchy:

•  Black/whiteèredèyellow/greenèblue,brown,purple,pink,orange,gray

(Kay&Maffi,1999;Hupkaetal.,1999;Berlin&Kay,1969;Ekmanetal.,1969)

RecentFindingsResuscitateWhorf:LanguageAffectsThought

•  Chinesespeakers:– Advantageinnumbertermacquisi)onandbasicarithme)c

– Disadvantageincounterfactualreasoning:

•  Ifallcirclesarelarge,andthistriangleΔisacircle,isitlarge?

(Chenetal.,2006;Hunt&Agnoli,1991;Miller&S)gler,1987)

•  Pirahãnumberprocessing:– Pirahãhasthreequan)fica)onterms:hói,hoí,andbaágiso– Pirahãspeakerscanmatchsetsizes– Pirahãspeakersperformpoorlywhentheyneedtorememberquan))es

•  E.g.,“nutsinacan”task(Evere;,2008;Franketal.,2008;Gelman&Gallistel,2004;Gordon,2004)

Photo by E. Gibson, MIT

•  Russiancolorcategoriza)on:– Russianrequires“light-blue”vs.“dark-blue”categoriza)on

•  голубой("goluboy")vs.синий("siniy“)•  ComparedtoEnglishspeakers,Russianspeakersarefasteratcolor-judgmenttasksinvolvingshadesofblue.

•  Theadvantageislargestwhenthephysicaldifferencebetweenshadesissmallest.

(Winaweretal.,2007)

•  Deafandhearingfluentsigners– Sign-languagerequiresspa)altransforma)ons(mentalrota)on)anddetailedfacepercep)on

– Fluentsignersarebe;erat•  Mentalrota)on•  Facepercep)on/judgment

– Fluentsignersperceiveapparentbodymo)ondifferentlythannon-signers

(Emmorey,2002)

Howdoesanindividualusetheirknowledgewhenproducingorunderstandinglanguage?

•  Themodularityhypothesis:– Languageisamodule– Thelanguagemodulecontainssub-modules

•  Domainspecific•  Gene/callydetermined•  Dis/nctneuralstructure•  Computa/onallyautonomous/encapsulated

(J.Fodor,1983)

ModularSpeechProductionSystem

Hypothetical Mental Modules

Hypothetical Mental Processes

Lexical Access

Positional Processing & Inflection

Phonological & Prosodic Encoding

Execution

Review•  1.Languagehasfeaturesthatdis)nguishitfromothercommunica)onsystems.

•  2.Theseincludegrammarsthatgovernhowsymbolscombine.

•  3.Languageand“thought”relyonseparate,butinterac)ngsystems.

•  4.Modernhumanlanguageabili)esdevelopedfrommoreprimi)vesystems.

•  5.Modernlanguageabili)esreflecttheinterac)onofgene)c,developmental,andculturalinfluences.