Blah Blah Blah: A Discussion of Language

1. Blah Blah Blah: A Discussion of Language Josh Hall Caitlin O’Brien Sam Pierre

2. Bilingualism Caitlin O’Brien

3. Innate Propensity for Language • Language Predisposition • Language Acquisition Device • Recognition and Production of all phonemes

4. Bilingual Experiences 1. Compound Bilingualism- Acquisition • Characteristics: • Languages gained concurrently • Stronger use of LAD • Localized in Brain • Usually occurs when young • Subconscious process • Not aware of rules of language • Concepts have verbal labels from both languages • Languages are interdependent • Stages: • Stage 1: Initial Single Language System • Stage 2: Different Languages

5. Bilingual Experiences 2. Coordinate Bilingualism- Learning • Characteristics • Languages learned in separate environments, gained sequentially • Spread out over brain, more right hemisphere • Can occur after a critical period • Conscious of learning new language • Aware of knowledge and rules of language • Role of Native Language • Avoidance • Differential Learning Rates • Different Paths • Over Production • Predictability/ Selectivity 3. Different representations of languages with different characteristics

6. Evolutionary Importance • Relevance with early human ancestors • Early cooperation and exchange between groups • Warfare or little interaction • Decline of LAD • Greater Reproductive Success

7. Benefits of Multilingualism • Greater general cognitive development • Greater mental flexibility at an earlier age • Earlier awareness of how language works • More skilled at discovering and applying rules to tasks • Increased focus • Outperform monolinguals on tests and scholastically • Delays memory loss in old age • Decreases impact of Alzheimer's and Dementia

8. The Temporary Language: Baby Signing as a Response to Evolutionary Design Sam Pierre

9. In the beginning… • Slow acceptance of sign language • Seen as inferior to spoken language • Eventually recognized as helpful for learning disabilities • Opened the door to sign language use outside the deaf community

10. Two Theories Acredolo and Goodwyn’s “Baby Signs” Program -Invent and adapt signs Garcia’s “Sign with Your Baby” Program -ASL and BSL Based

11. Signal Categories • Common nouns: • foods, toys, everyday objects • Description words: • More, done, etc. • Feelings and emotions: • Afraid, sad, etc. • Baby Signing Example

12. Benefits • Increased performance on verbal tasks • Improved communication between child and parents • Nurturance benefits • Decreased frustration in parents and child • Higher IQ

13. “But I want my child to speak!” Most common concern: • Slowed verbal acquisition • No evidence in support • Actually the opposite

14. Evolutionary Need for Language • Humans crave communication • Communication had strong benefits: • Alerts to danger • Foraging and hunting • Collaboration feeding development • Main purpose: survival of the species

15. Baby Signing’s Role in Evolution • Human desire for communication still exists in infants • Verbal motor skills develop slowly • Rudimentary hand gestures are easier • Baby signing fills that need for communication

16. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Or, Linguistic Relativism

17. The Premise • A theory of the relation between language, perception, and cognition • Simple version: • Language is fundamental to the way we think and understand the world • Therefore, the particular language of an individual will influence his or her thought • Different languages will create different patterns of thought

18. Edward Sapir (1884-1939) First hypothesized that languages are complete formal systems which are mutually influential with thought Benjamin Whorf (1897-1941) Took Sapir’s work a step further, claimed that language mediates all thought and action Whorfian Hypothesis Background

19. Whorfian Examples • English metaphors equating time and money – spend time, waste time, etc. • Hopi language describes time as process, not objective quantity • Perception of sound – Chinese consonants, etc. • Orwellian “Newspeak” • Inuit words for snow – whoops

20. Two Formulations • Strong Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • Complete linguistic determinism • No concepts outside of cultural language • Some concepts should be impossible to grasp • Weak Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • Language does not determine, only influence • Alien concepts should be more difficult, but not impossible to understand

21. The Opposition • Linguistic Universalism • Claims that all concepts are universal, or more fundamental than language • Language and culture, then, have no real effect on cognition • No such thing as “alien” concepts

22. Empirical Testing • Color Triads • Other experiments • Chinese “classifiers”, etc.

23. Results • Most studies show that subjects can distinguish colors for which they have no linguistic definition • Small, consistent errors appear in most cases, though

24. Implications • No definite answers yet • Experiments seem to support weak Sapir-Whorf hypothesis • Concepts are understandable for all subjects • Small relativist influence still present • Ultimately, points to need for further study • Implications for multilingualism and sign languages?

25. With Evolutionary Psychology… • From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, this would seem to support a modular theory of the mind • Fundamental concepts built upon by subjective/relative influence • Language becomes a basic heuristic of sorts • Would give an evolutionary advantage by allowing for faster, more efficient learning and cognition

26. Conclusion • Language deserves plenty of attention as an evolutionary mechanism • Bilingualism and sign language fill human need for communication • Theories such as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis point to the fundamental nature of language

27. Questions?