Language and Thought

1. Language and Thought Module 23

2. Language Happy holidays • The most tangible indication of our thinking power • Unique to humans • Enables us to communicate complex ideas • Enables us to retain and transmit the collective knowledge of civilization appreciation hello Hebrew

3. You are Amazing • You probably know about 80,000 words. • From 1 year old to the time you graduated from high school, you learned about 5000 words each year. meglomania misenthrop Equestrian antidisestablishmentarianism

4. Features of Language by Steven Pinker • Semanticity – sounds in human language convey meaning (unlike coughing or clearing our throats) • Arbitrariness – no inherent connection between symbols in a language and their meaning. The word “dog” has no connection to an animal. • Flexibility of symbols – language changes and grows. Cars used to be called automobiles.

5. Features of Language by Steven Pinker • Naming – we assign names to objects and feelings. “I am word processing on my personal computer.” • Displacement – language allows us to talk about the past or the future as well as the present. • Productivity (also called generativity) – we generate sentences rather than repeat them. This is how Chomsky critiqued Skinner’s work.

6. Acquisition of Language Babbling stage Babies practice pronouncing sounds. By around 10 months, it sounds like the native language.

7. Acquisition of Language One Word Stage At about 1 year, the child uses one syllable words to express something – “ma” “da” “ga”

8. Acquisition of Language Two Word Stage Around their second birthday, children begin to form two word sentences Telegraphic Speech – mainly nouns and verbs in a sensible order – “nice doggy” “big boy” “pretty baby” “need juice” “no nap”

9. Explanation of Language Development • Skinner – association, imitation, reinforcement • Chomsky – inborn universal grammar, brains prewired, hardware and operating system • Cognitive Scientists – we are able to quickly statistically analyze aspects of human speech The younger we learn a new language the better.

10. Thinking and Language • Language Influences thinking – Lee Whorf • linguistic relativity hypothesis- different languages impose different conceptions of reality on us and shape our sense of self.

11. Thinking and Language – Gender Differences Gender and Language – true or false??? • Men talk more than women. • Men are more likely to interrupt women than to interrupt other men. • There are approximately ten times as many sexual terms for males as for females in the English language. • During conversations, women spend more time gazing at their partner than men do. • Nonverbal messages carry more weight than verbal messages.

12. Thinking and Language – Gender Differences • Female managers communicate with more emotional openness and drama than male managers • Men not only control the content of conversations, they also work harder in keeping conversations going. • When people hear generic words such as “mankind” and “he,” they respond inclusively, indicating that the terms apply to both sexes. • Women are more likely to touch others than men are. • In a classroom, male students receive more reprimands and criticism than female students. • Women are more likely than men to disclose intimate, personal, information.

13. Thinking and Language – Gender Differences 12. Female speakers are more animated in their style than males. 13. Women use less personal space than men. 14. When a male speaks, he is listened to more carefully than a female speaker, even when she makes the identical presentation. 15. In general, women speak in a more tentative style than men do. 16. Women are more likely to answer questions not addressed to them than men.

14. Thinking and Language – Gender Differences Answers: • T 2. T 3. F 4. T 5. T 6. F 7. F 8. F 9. F 10. T 11. T 12. T 13. T 14. T 15. T 16. F

15. Doublespeak – Can you figure these out? • Revenue enhancement = • Inoperative statements = • Social expression products = • Poorly buffered precipitation = • Media courier = • Oral hygiene appliance = • Negative patient care outcome = • Vertical transportation corps = • Period of accelerated negative growth =

16. Bilingual Education • Is it beneficial? • What does it do for the brain? • Should it be mandatory for children?

17. Thinking Without Language • Mental rehearsal can boost your performance in athletics, academics, and social situations.

18. Student Project • Draw two cognitive maps. 1. Draw a map from your house to the library, Starbucks, or a place you often go. Draw it from memory only. 2. Draw a map from your house to Oakton. Put in as much detail as you can recall. 3. How accurate were your maps? How much detail did you include? Did you expect to be more accurate than you were? 4. Now read an article about cognitive maps, and report on the contents. You might look for Image of the City, by Kevin Lynch and report on his book, or you may find an article on the internet or at the library that talks about cognitive maps.

19. Animal Thinking and Language • Do animals think? • They can solve problems, count, improvise the use of implements to get to food, recognize themselves in a mirror. • Can apes talk?

20. So, can apes really talk? • Language comes to them with difficulty • Can they transmit it to each other? • What about “perceptual set?” • What about their cognitive powers?