Language

1. Language BSCS, Cognitive psychology Day 3 What is language? Evolution of Language How does language affect thought?

2. Can animals talk? It always depends on what you call talking� Talkinganimals movie

3. If we are inclined to think that they can, there are (at least) two reasons

5. Faces on Mars?

6. There are two reasons We like to hear animals talk

7. There are two reasons We like to hear animals talk Animals like to imitate us

9. Is human language special in any way?

10. Natural signs � natural language Closed ( 30-40 signs) Holistic sounds, smells, facial expressions Analogue (crying) Concrete inherited

11. Inherited signs? Vervet monkeys Playing them recorded signals Different shouts : Eagle hide in bush Snake look under feet Leopard run up tree It takes learning to get them right Are they in-built measures of fear?

12. The Vervets again Ability to cheat! Want to get rid of bigger male? Want to hide that you�ve found food? Just give a leopard cry!

13. What makes possible sentences infinite? Recursion Diane said that Peter told her that Mary lied that she was at school that day. The mouse that the cat chased ate the cheese. The mouse that the cat chased that the dog barked ate the cheese.

14. Human language? Hockett�s principles Arbtrariness (nonecessary connection between form and meaning) Abstractness (ability to talk about events distant in time or space) Duality (from a few meaningless signs an infinite number of configurations created) Productivity (new linguistic elements can be formed)

15. What animals don�t do.. past future question Lie - cheat

16. Careful! Der Kluge Hans � Clever Hans � effect (1907 Oskar Pfungst)

17. Two important questions Nature-nurture (Skinner vs Chomsky) Species similar to us (apes) Species adapted to us (dog, cat) Natural communicative signs - artificial Animals communicating in their natural habitat Arbitrary sign taught by human researchers

18. Irene Pepperberg

19. Paul Bloom (Yale) �both a baby and a dog are exposed to language, but only the baby learns to talk (Science)� Children�s word learning � fast mapping

20. The new chimpanzees Rico, the Border Collie (video) Juliane Kaminski, Leipzig Fast mapping and word learning �fetch-the-bunny� One word? � can put it in a box as well or give it to someone Novel item � novel word Paul Bloom: �for psychologists, dogs may be the new chimpanzees.� �If any child learned words the way Rico did, the parents would run screaming to the nearest neurologist

21. The new chimpanzees Questions: Talent or learning? (nature or nurture) Dogs are evolutionarily selected for attending to the communicative intentions of humans Can Rico demonstrate understanding of a word other than by fetching an object? Could Rico be told not to fetch a specific object (akin to telling a human child "don't touch!")? Can Rico learn a word for any object that is not small and fetchable? Can the same results be produced with nonlinguistic sounds?

22. Monkeys speaking Maybe they could use a simpler proto-language? Ability not used? 3 methods Natural speech ASL- sign language Lexigram signs

23. Spoken language ASL � American sign Language lexigrams

24. Gua(Kellogg & Kellogg, 1933) Raised as a family member (9 months) Intimate relationship GUA AND DONALD READY FOR BED GUA AND DONALD READY FOR BED

26. In spite of all this, Gua Never produced intelligible words Only understood few

27. Viki(Hayes, 1951) Family member Reinforceent learning After 7! years Badly articulated 4 words: mama, papa, up, cup Only family members understand him Understands few words

28. 60�s teaching chimps Complete fiasco Is the problem physiological? Lack of fine motor coordination Movement of tongue Control of breathing Voluntary control of emitting sounds

29. Different physiologyLarynx higher -> smaller pharynx and nasal cavity

30. Spoken language ASL � American Sign Language Lexigrams Three stars Washoe (chimpanzee) Nim Chimpsky (chimpanzee) Koko (gorilla)

31. Washoe(Gardner & Gardner, 1960�s) Captured in Africa Started to learn at 11 months � teaching during 51 months Brouht up as a deaf child (games, social activities) idea Chimps use gestures as a natural sign in their communication ? ASL, American Sign Language

32. What did Washoe learn? Lexicon production: 150-200 signs Understood more More syntactic categories (N, V, Adj, Pro) differentiating flower vs. smell trasfer He learns one particular object and extends the meaning Could create new signs (?) Duck = water + bird

33. What did Washoe learn? Grammar Overgeneralization Answering �WH-word� questions Sensitivity to word order You tickle me I tickle you Combining signs Washoe sorry Baby down Go in Hug hurry Out open please hurry Washoe�s step son Louis Learned signs spontaneously from Washoe Did Washoe teach the signs (?)

34. Nim Chimpsky & Herbert Terrace

35. Nim Chimpsky(Terrace, Petitto, Sanders & Bever, 1979) Washoe�s family What does his name remind you of? ASL: stricter design

36. What has Nim Chimpsky learned? Lexicon 125 signs, BUT stricter criteria would ca 25 (strict criteiria meaning double-blind studies with signers) Grammar A maximum of two combinations?if there is az more, it is usually repetition banana me eat banana eat The length of sentences does not grow over time No relationship between the complexitiy of sentences and their length (rather, he learned that the more he signs, the sooner he gets what he wants�)

37. Nim Chimpsky No spontaneous signs His utterances 90%: reaction, relates to a �here and now aspect� (eat, play, drink) 40%: straight repetition Interrupts the signing of teacher Does not add new information to the situation

38. Koko and dr Penny Patterson

41. Francine Patterson

42. The chat on America Online

43. The chat on America Online Koko pulls Penny's phone hand closer. PENNY: OK. She wants to listen. Do you have a question? KOKO: Listen. PENNY: She said 'listen.'. . . AOL: MInyKitty asks Koko are you going to have a baby in the future? PENNY: OK, is that for Koko? Koko are you going to have a baby in the future? KOKO: Koko-love eat ... sip. AOL: Me too! PENNY: What about a baby? You going to have baby? She's just thinking...her hands are together... KOKO: Unattention. PENNY: Oh poor sweetheart. She said 'unattention.' She covered her face with her hands..which means it's not happening, basically, or it hasn't happened yet. . . I don't see it. AOL: That's sad! PENNY: It is responding to the question. In other words, she hasn't had one yet, and she doesn't see a future here. The way the situation is actually with Koko & Ndume, she has 2 males to 1 female which is the reverse of what she needs. I think that is why she said that, because in our current situation, it isn't possible for her to have a baby. She needs several females and one male to have a family.

44. Spoken language ASL � lexigrams

45. David and Ann Premack

46. Savage Rumbaugh

47. One of the fiascos

48. Bad news � good news Matata and her son Kanzi After 2,5 years of training Matata still wasn�t very good at lexigrams � they gave up and sent her to a Primate Center They kept Kanzi � luckily!

49. Kanzi(Greenfield & Savage-Rumbaugh, 1990) A real star (played together with Paul McCartney-vel + Peter Gabriel) bonobo: supposed to be more intelligent, social, communicative Has NEVER been taught, only her mother

50. Kanzi and Alia (2,5 ys) Compared them with a comprehension test, with toys Kanzi has never seen before, only videos and pictures Kanzi, make the dog bite the snake Kanzi, tickle Rose with the bunny 500 novel sentences Both Alia and Kanzi were 70% correct

52. Conclusion about ape studies ape Here and now No syntax explicit teaching Does not refuse badly formed sentences Rarely forms questions Not using symbols spontaneuosly MLU same Banana me me me eat. child timeline syntax No explicit teaching � spontaneous signs with deaf children) Refuses badly formed sentences Frequent questions Referential use of symbols MLU grows and so does complexity I am going to eat all the bananas.

53. Hauser, Chomsky, Fitch

55. �Human language is an embarrassment for evolutionary theory� David Premack

56. When? A. when did language evolve in the history of mankind? evidence: Human fossils (speech organs and brain tissue) � 2 million years tools � 100 thousand years Art � 30-35 thousand years B. Why did it evolve?

57. Why did language evolve? Evolutionists The meteors of Chomsky

58. Saltatory approachmeteors Noam Chomsky: language could not have evolved by natural selection Too complex All the interim forms bring no advantage Exaptation?

60. Step-by-step evolution Different linguistic levels? Bickerton evolutionary stable strategy of grammar

61. Bickerton�s theory 0. Australopithecus �apes today (categoriese) 1. Erectus � protolanguage, without syntax 2. Archaic homo sapiens � symbolic language with syntax 3. developed language languages diverging, different language families (Luigi Cavalli-Sforza)

62. ESS � Evolutionary stable strategies Think of all the things you might want to talk about What if you invented a different sound for each? Solution categorization combination

63. Syntax evolution: the problem

64. Syntax evolution: the answer

65. How did language evolve? Early linguistic theories Ecolocigal models hunt Social explanation Building social relations Sexual selection

66. How did language evolve? Early linguistic theories Ecolocigal models hunt Social explanation Building social relations Sexual selection

67. Egypt � an interesting experiment Pharaoh Psammeticos (7th century B.C.) Given two babies to a shepherd to raise them without saying a word to them � the most ancient language would be the one they start to speak Once they happened to say the word �bheccos� It means bread in phrueg, a language now extinct Kaiser Franz II. Germo-Roman emperor (10th A.C.) same experiment no result Jacob IV Scottish king (XVth A.C.) The child started to speak something like Hebrew.

68. Similarity in onomatopaeia Afrikaans: miaau! Albanian: mjau! Arabic (Algeria): miau miau! Bengali: meu-meu! Catalan: meu, meu! Croatian: mijau! Danish: mjav! Dutch: miauw! English: meow! Esperanto: miau! Estonian: n�u! Finnish: miau! kurnau! French: miaou! German: miau! Greek: niaou! Hebrew: miyau! Hindi: myaau! myaauu! Hungarian: miau! Icelandic: mj�!  Indonesian: ngeong! Italian: miao! Japanese: nyaa! Korean: (n)ya-ong! Mandarin Chinese: miao miao! Norwegian: mjau! Polish: miau! Portuguese: miau! Russian: myau! Slovene: mijau! Spanish: miau! Swedish: mjau! Thai: meow meow! (with high tone) Turkish: miyauv! miyauv! Ukrainian: myau! Vietnamese: meo-meo!

69. Otto Jespersen � the reason of the ban in 1886 Interlingua � International Auxiliary language Bow-wow theory Imitating animals - onomatopeia Pooh-pooh theory Emotion-laden signs (pain, happiness) Ding-dong theory A sort of verbalizing non-verbal communivation Yo-he-ho theory Vocalization while working, singing La-la theory Love, art, poetry, music

70. How did language evolve? Early linguistic theories Ecolocigal models Hunt Toolmaking Social explanation Building social relations Sexual selection

71. A difference in vocabulary? Hunter-gatherers: 5000-6000 words Half of them is verb, connected to survival Modern language: 50-60 housand words 10-15% verbs Language had a larger role in this?

72. What do you need to know to survive? Places of plants and migration of animals Today�s hunter-gatherer�s � little evidence, more gestures (max. 1-2 words) Talk: basicly gossip � life of people, affairs

73. Tools and DIY Constructional ability ~ syntax

74. You need Model of the outside world Manipulation abilities Both language and toolmaking are sequential hierarchical Two possibilities Making tools presupposes abilities that bootsrap language Making tools needs teaching and cooperation presupposing language

75. DIY in hunter-gatherers Rarely do they say instructions Mostly direct observation Cathleen Gibson Division of labour Social effect Gibson, K. R. and Ingold, T. eds. Tools, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993.

76. How did language evolve? Early linguistic theories Ecolocigal models hunt Social explanation Building social relations Sexual selection

77. Robin Dunbar grooming: Hygenic function - originally Social and emotional bonds Endogene opiates

79. A

80. Grooming time for hominids

81. Group size ~ grooming Reduces agression Gets social support Max: 70 (20-25% of time) Group size ~ brain size Cogitive restraint humans: 147,8 (150) (42% of time!)

82. Average size of human tribes

83. The magic number of 150 The average size of hunter-gatherer groups Basic military unit hutterites � one colony Gore-Tex fabric Ltd. 150 parking places

84. And the solution is� Language � a more efficient way of grooming? Can groom various persons at a time The hands are free to manipulate Trading social information Indirect experience � learn novel situation Group identity - dialects

85. When? 250-300 thousand years ago we reached this 70 person limit

86. The topic � grooming=gossip?

87. How did language evolve? Early linguistic theories Ecolocigal models hunt Social explanation Building social relations Sexual selection

88. Geoffrey Miller Univ of New Mexico

89. Altruism of speaker � are we giving away information language_=nothing more than a sexual ornament, a way of wooing

90. Name great writers in History Fitness indicator: Intelligence correlates with vocabulary 80% 60% genetically determined Cyrano effect Seherzade effect

91. However Women are better at verbal intelligence, aren�t they? Contradictory findings Fluency tests Verbal intelligence test Vocabulary tests � only until the age of 3-5 The aphasia myth The autism myth � that is actually true�

92. Supporting evidence Robbins Burling In egalitarian societies the chieftain is going to be the person communicating best

93. Evolution of human language Nobody denies that it is a powerful tool Nobody knows how it came into being

94. Language and thought

95. Sapir-Whorf (linguistic relativity) hypothesis The (grammatical) categories of language influence cognition (perception, memory thought) Linguistic turn: Linguistic relativism importance of language as a structuring agent Philosophical realism

96. Language (with capital L): the human language capacity linguistic universals languages (with small l): individual languages (e.g., English, Arabic�) types of languages (e.g., Indo-European, Semitic�)

97. Language � uniformity or diversity Chomsky and MP Language can be traced back to universals Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Presupposes that there is a significant (???) differences between languages Grammatical gender marking Hungarian - none on pronouns (Eng) On nouns and adjectives (Neo-latin languages) On verbs (Russian) Mandarin & Indonesian: optional tense marking Turkish: marking of the source of knowledge

98. Various stances Universalism � Chomsky, Jackendoff, Gleitman Strong linguistic relativism � Whorf, Levinson Language influences cognition Weak linguistic relativism - Slobin �Thinking for speaking� � it draws our attention to certain differences, creating a difference in cognition Language as a strategy Effects of language are present if the task in the experience is linguistic only

99. Slobin, Dan Are these differences relevant? To what degree? Linguistic determinism � strong version Linguistic relativism � weak version If each language is simply an alternative code for the same underlying cognitive processes and states, the diversity of languages can be ignored by cognitive science. � But if linguistic diversity reflects cognitive diversity, individual languages are critical independent variables in cognitive science theory and research.

100. Experimental data

101. Tests of the hypothesis Classical study: words for snow among the Eskimo Colour words among the Dani (Elizabeth Rosch) Time metaphors and their effect on thought Space and thought

102. The Great Snowball Battle

103. Franz Boas Father of American Anthropology The Central Eskimo (1888) Is cultural evolution similar to the evolution of language? 1911 Handbook of American Indian languages � A sidenote on morphology �snowballed� .just as English uses derived terms for a variety of forms of water (liquid, lake, river, brook, rain, dew, wave, foam) that might be formed by derivational morphology from a single root meaning 'water' in some other language, so Eskimo uses the apparently distinct roots aput 'snow on the ground', gana 'falling snow', piqsirpoq 'drifting snow', and qimuqsuq 'a snow drift'

104. Sapir Whorf By 1940 somehow arrived at the number 7 Studying the Hopi the Hopi language is seen to contain no words, grammatical forms, construction or expressions or that refer directly to what we call �time�, or to past, present, or future� Hartford Fire insurance Company Empty vs full gasoline drums Nahuatl, maya � minor mistakes 1956 � Language, Thought, Reality

105. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis �We cut up and organize the spread and flow of events as we do largely because, through our mother tongue, we are parties to an agreement to do so, not because nature itself is segmented in exactly that way for all to see.� � �From this fact proceeds what I have called the �linguistic relativity principle,� which means, in informal terms, that users of markedly different grammars are pointed by their grammars toward different types of observations � and hence are not equivalent as observers ��

106. The Truth � so how many? 2-4 in Inuit � up to 24 in English Geoffrey Pullum The entire question is irrelevant � it would be very surprising if a painter did not know more words for colours than laypersons.

107. The Colour debate Paul Kay � universalism The categorization of the spectrum of wavelength is not arbitrary There is a hierarchy of colours Rosch � studies with the Dani Modern criticisms Paul Kay and Willet Kempton (1984) Tarahumara grue studies

109. Time

110. With the future behind them English Falling behind schedule and looking forward to a brighter future Mandarin Qui�n � front Hou � back Shang � up � last Xi� � down � next Priming experiments Is March earlier than April? The meeting on Wednesday was put forward 2 days. People on/off the train/airport experiments.

111. Language and space

112. Talmy Manner and path type languages � categorizing verbs He went out running of the house. Sali� del edificio corriendo. Gennari et al video memory experiments. No memory effects Conscious similarity effect exists

113. Bowerman studies Containment vs support in EU languages subtle differences in the grammatical markers Tight/loose fit and attachment � Korean Bowl (nehta) vs envelope & magnet on a refrigerator (kitta) McDonough (habituation, looking preference) adult British subject can�t discriminate tight vs loose fit Preverbal infants can

120. The problem Levinson vs Li and Gleitman � the war is not over yet Chickens, eggs and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in other words how many words do YOU know for snow? (oh, and how many for different neurotransmitters...?) And now the tricky question: Raise your left hands, please And point towards your office in ST (N.B. if you also murmur Accio coffee, you might even stay awake for the rest of the talk!)

121. SPACE � the final front in here?Language & Cognition � the easy solution Language: Absolute Intrinsic Relative Spatial cognition (Geocentric) Allocentric Egocentric

122. Spatial reference frames made difficult

123. Linguistic diversity in Spatial language Languages differ in the ratio of the use of the different descriptions Man and tree test by Penelope Brown

124. Languages and space Absolute The Quill is to the south of the Diary. Ya koon. A., I descend B., I go downhill. C., I go south.

128. Li & Gleitman

129. Li and Gleitman, 2002

130. The pointing task dead-reckoners

131. Hypothesis Speakers of languages using absolute frames of reference will be good dead reckoners � r-statistic close to 1.00 � Speakers of languages using relative frames of reference will be poor dead reckoners � r-statistic approaching zero.