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Term Test 3 grades
• Grades available on web page• Review session to be scheduled
Three Minute ReviewLANGUAGE• Sounds phonemes morphemes words sentences
meaning– phonology
• sample problem: mondegreens
– morphology
– syntax• sample problem: ambiguous grammar
– semantics
– deep meaning
• Language in the brain– Broca’s aphasia vs. Wernicke’s aphasia
• How much does language influence thoughts?– do words enable concepts?
– linguistic relativity hypothesis
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION• thin slices of behavior can be excellent predictors
– 65-95% of communication is nonverbal• interpersonal distance
– intimate-personal-social-public– affected by relationship, situation, status, gender, which
direction people are facing• facial expression
– common across cultures– similar among primate species– can’t always be totally faked, esp. smiles
Test Yourself
The words “bear” and “bare” involve:
A. different morphemes and phonemes
B. the same morphemes and phonemes
C. different morphemes but the same phonemes
D. the same morphemes but different phonemes
You Asked…
Can patients with Broca’s aphasia write?
• Even when they don’t have difficulty controlling the right hand, these patients may have problems with writing, particularly the generation of sensible, grammatical output
How do we learn grammar?
B. F. Skinner• language and grammar are learned through operant conditioning
Noam Chomsky• there is an innate language module or instinct -- Language Acquisition Device (LAD)• there are too many combinations to learn• kids say things they’ve never heard adults say, e.g., “I gived it to her”• people can determine whether novel nonsense is grammatical, e.g., “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously”
Grammar Learning in Children
• generalization and overextension– words
• Baby Kate’s “door-door”
– rules• children can generalize (the wug
test)• sometimes they overgeneralize
– kick kicked
– play played
– blink blinked
– think thinked (thought)
– drink drinked (drank)
Acquisition of Language in Humans• critical period for phonemes
– babies under ~ 6 mos. can learn to distinguish phonemes from any language
– after that, it is very difficult to learn– adult Japanese have a hard time distinguishing /l/
and /r/
• word learning– babbling
• “ba-ba-ba”, “dee-dee-dee”• “ba-dee”, “dah-dee”
– 0 to 60,000 words
Acquisition of Language in Humans
• critical period for grammar– the case of Genie
For proper grammar, language has to be acquired before ~6
Can Animals Learn Language?
• non-human primates do not have vocal apparatus for speech
• changes to human ancestors about 250,000 years ago enabled speech – larynx became lower
• enabled speech• risk of choking
Can Animals Learn Language?
Washoe (chimp)sign language
Koko (gorilla)sign language
Nim Chimpsky (chimp)sign language
Kanzi (bonobo)symbolic language
How good is animal “language”?• some researchers (e.g., the Gardners who
raised Washoe) were very secretive about their data
• apes’ sign language was a very coarse approximation of real American Sign Language
• vocabulary estimated at 25 - 125 “words”• Jane Goodall remarked that many of the
signs were also seen in chimps in the wild• bonobos might be better than common
chimps (Kanzi learned when mom was trained unsuccessfully)
• it’s communication, but is it language?
How good is animal “language”?• typical two-year old human child
– “Look at that train Ursula bought.”
• Nim Chimpsky– “Nim eat Nim eat”– “Tickle me Nim play”– “Me banana you banana me you give”– “Banana me me me eat”– “Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange
give me you”
• Jean Chretien– "A proof is proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof
and when you have a good proof it's proven" (Sept. 2002)– They say that the money we promised three years ago -- to be new
money this year -- is no longer new money. We have not paid it yet and it’s old new money versus new money. For me new money is new money.” (Feb. 2003)
…but what about “that damn bird”?
Alex PepperbergAfrican Grey Parrot
• identifies ~50 objects, shapes, colors, material, numbers<7• can answer comparison and combination questions
• babbles at dusk
