How and when is language possible?

1. How and when is language possible? Chapter 8

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICng-KRxXJ8

3. Introduction • Pig Latin: • Happy = appyh + ay = appyhay • Awesome = Awesome +way = Awesomeway • Who uses pig latin? What age group? • This is a helpful way for children to explore their language and become better at their language

4. How is language possible? • There is little agreement on this • 1. There is no ethical way to experiment on how children learn language • 2. Language did not preserve itself in the fossil record

5. Theories about language beginnings • In the 1700s and 1800s there were tons of theories, including that language began: • By imitating animal calls • By expressing pain • By working together • These are all speculative and cannot be tested • Need to look at biology, culture, and the fossil record

6. Two approaches • Innateness Vs Evolution

7. Two approaches • Innateness: • Language is specific human ability • Once, developed, it is part of the brain • Universal grammar • Children really just acquire language • Who does this sound like?

8. Two approaches • Chomsky • Prescriptivist

9. Two approaches • Evolution: • Linguistic anthropologists do not agree with innateness • Language is completely intertwined with culture • You have to study context in order to understand language • Who does this sound like?

10. Two approaches • Hymes • Descriptivist "There are rules of use without which the rules of grammar will be useless"?

11. defining language • How is language different from communication? • Communication is sending and receiving signals • Humans and animals • Limited information • Example: Vervet monkeys have different calls for a leopard, an eagle, or a snake • Language is transmitting a limitless amount of information in a variety of ways

12. Design features of language • Charles Hockett (1916-2000) created the design features of language, which are 13 ways human language can be distinguished from animal communication. • We will discuss the first 9, which can also be used by animals, and then discuss the last 4, which are more unique to humans • These all also apply to sign language

13. Design features of language • 1. vocal-auditory channel • Main transmission is spoken • Orality • 2. broadcast transmission and directional reception • Sounds are sent out in all directions but you can tell where they come from • 3. rapid fading • Signals don’t last long • Once you hear them your brain almost immediately forgets them

14. Design features of language • 4. Interchangeability • Speaker can send and receive the same signal • 5. total feedback • Speakers can hear themselves talk and monitor what they say • 6. Specialization • Language sounds are specialized for communication • We don’t really make any sounds that do not communicate information

15. Design features of language • 7. Semanticity • Specific sound signals have specific meanings • Different sounds provoke different reactions • 8. Arbitrariness • There is no necessary or causal connection between a signal and its meaning • A signal can refer to anything • 9. Discreteness • Units used for communication can be separated into distinct parts

16. Design features of language • The last 4 features are thought to be unique to humans, but there are some primate examples that contradict this

17. Design features of language • 10. Displacement • You can talk about things not present, or things that don’t exist • I have spoken ASL with chimps that can do this • 11. Productivity • Allows you to produce new types of language (sounds, words, phrases) • Poetry, song lyrics • Washoe the chimp (“sour banana,”“water bird,”“sweet drink”)

18. Design features of language • 12. Transitional transmission • Language is learned in social groups • Appropriateness is also learned in social settings • Washoe taught Loulis ASL • 13. Duality of patterning • Discrete units of one level can be combined to create things at another level • The sounds for k, a, t, and s can create cat, act, tack, cast, task, etc. • OK, this one is only human 

19. Handout • Read over the handout on the design features and create one example for each category

20. Primates!!! • Some researchers say that primates can’t really learn language, but I disagree • Apes cannot speak because of anatomical limitations • But they can learn human languages

21. Primates!!! • Washoe (chimp) knew ASL • Koko (gorilla) knows ASL • Kanzi (bonobo) knows spoken English and lexigrams (picture words) • Kanzi learned English from being in social setting with humans More on this in a bit

22. How children learn language • At 3 days old, can distinguish mother’s voice • At three months, coo and laugh • At six months make vowel and consonant sounds • At one year, name things • At 18 months, make sentences

23. How children learn language • How do they learn? • Three theories: • Innatist • Behaviorist • Theory Theory

24. How children learn language • Innatist: • Language is hardwired into brain • Core or universal grammar • What linguist would agree with this?

25. How children learn language • Behaviorist: • Children must hear language from others to understand how to use it • They must receive guidance • There is a critical age by which language must be learned

26. How children learn language • Theory Theory: • AKA Active Construction of Grammar Theory • Children observe and interact with their environment to learn language • It is about understanding language in context • What linguist would agree with this? • This is similar to how anthropologists learn language in the field

27. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ONJIEcE • Minute 24

28. When is language possible • Looking at the Brain: • There are over 1 trillion cells in the brain and 100 billion are neurons in the cortex • This is the oldest part of the brain • Controls memory and emotions • The younger part of the brain is the neocortex • Contains frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes • Controls language

29. When is language possible

30. When is language possible

31. When is language possible • The brain is divided into a right and left hemisphere • Each controls the opposite side of the body • Two areas of importance: • Broca’s Area • Wernicke’s Area

32. When is language possible • Broca’s Area: • In frontal region of left hemisphere • Affects clarity of speech • Someone with damage would understand what is said to them but not be able to say things back clearly

33. When is language possible • Wenicke’s Area: • Temporal lobe of left hemisphere • People with damage have difficulty understanding spoken language • They can pronounce words clearly but cannot put them in the correct order

34. Evolution of language • Human and non-human primate line split 10-13 million years ago (mya) • Chimpanzees and humans split 5 million years ago • During human evolution, we began walking bipedally (on two legs) millions of years before we had big brains or language • Language did not evolve until about 2 mya

36. Evolution of language • A group of human ancestors called the Australopithecines are the first to have a brain that is shaped somewhat human-like • Example: “Lucy” • However, we did not see tool use and possible communication until Homo habilis

37. Lucy (3 mya)

38. Homo habilis (2 mya)

39. Evolution of language • We can tell if fossil ancestors spoke because of looking at development of Broca’s area and the position of the larynx (where voice box is)

41. Evolution of language • Human ancestors, the Neanderthals, had language very similar to our own • They had huge brains (1700cc compared to human’s 1400cc) • The position of their hyoid bone (where voice box is) is in same place as in humans

42. Evolution of language • Any ancestor that made complex weapons and tools, and who hunted would need vocal communication

43. Video clips: • Steven Pinker “Language as a Window into the Brain” • Minute 24 • “Neanderthals: Human Extinction” • Minute 31-35