Lecture One Flashcards
(27 cards)
Bees use language for which 3 purposes?
To indicate direction, quality & distance of the source.
(Hockett) Define SEMANTICITY.
language units have set connections to things in the world.
(Hockett) Define ARBITRARINESS.
The connections between words and their meanings is arbitrary.
(Hockett) Define DISCRETENESS.
language units are separate & distinct from one another.
(Hockett) Define DISPLACEMENT.
language can be used to communicate about things that aren’t present.
(Hockett) Define PRODUCTIVITY.
can be used to say things that have never been said- yet are understandable.
(Hockett) Define DUALITY OF PATTERNING.
many meaningful words are made by combining sounds into varying sequences.
What are Hockett’s 6 design features of human language?
semanticity, arbitrariness, discreteness, displacement, productivity, duality of patterning
How are primate vocalizations similar yet different compared to human vocalization?
apes can produce sounds but are limited to only a few with specific purposes.
What can be said about apes ability to learn language?
they are flexible with a large capacity to learn to interpret sounds- but NOT produce sounds. They can produce limited sign language (evolutionary adaptation)
Define joint attention.
awareness between 2+ individuals that they are paying attention to the same thing
Define communicative urge
the ability to understand communicative intention - humans cognitive & motivational drives came to be refined for the purpose of communication
Describe the social scaffolding for language study.
testing if child responds to joint attention, showed that children with better JA have better vocab.
How do children learn language through structured patterns?
children aren’t specifically taught the rules about language. They learn through examples (what goes together, same letters can sound differently).
Define universal grammar.
certain grammatical rules are innate to all human languages (nativist). the ability to learn grammar is hardwired in the brain
Who introduced the nativist idea of language
Noam Chomsky
Define affective pathway.
sound produced from arising state of arousal, emotion & motivation. Innate - laughing & crying noises
Define cognitive pathway.
sound production is controlled & malleable. Requires extensive learning - human language sounds
What similarities do sign language & spoken language share?
they share basic gesture elements, words & sentences. there is no fundamental differences in how language is learned, used & understood by humans.
Define homesigns.
deaf children create gestural system for communication with those who don’t know SL to convey complex ideas, combine units to form words, etc.
Explain how homesigns develop and provide an example.
homesigns develop only when more than one person is involved in order to develop into efficient language, EX. nicaraguan sign language
Define Williams syndrome & explain its role in language impairment.
language function is relatively preserved despite other cognitive impairment, function at 6YO understanding but very adult language.
Define specific language impairment.
disorder in which children fail to develop language normally without any obvious reason.
Define domain general perspective in relation to specific language impairment.
view that linguistic deficit is only one effect of more general cognitive problem.
