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WHAT IS LANGUAGE?. HUMAN AND ANIMAL LANGUAGES. HUMAN AND ANIMAL LANGUAGES The issue of continuity. Are humans just a step further in practising an adapted behaviour? What are the similarities and differences in human and animal communication? Are they qualitative or quantitave? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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WHAT IS LANGUAGE?HUMAN AND ANIMAL
LANGUAGES
HUMAN AND ANIMAL LANGUAGES The issue of continuity Are humans just a step further in practising an
adapted behaviour?
What are the similarities and differences in human and animal communication?
Are they qualitative or quantitave? - measurable? - origin?
LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM
- Duality- Patterning- Structural dependence
„But I’m not so think as you drunk I am.” (Sir J.C. Squire, writer)
How many possibilities are there to order the following items in a meaningful way? Boathouse vs. houseboat
A, B, S, T
I, walks, on, long, sometimes, go
Tabs, bats, stab, ??sbat
I sometimes go on long walks. Sometimes, I go on long walks. I go on long walks sometimes. ??On long walks, I go sometimes. ??Go I sometimes on long walks.
Reflexiveness
"As modifiers of nouns, present and past participles of verbs function very much like adjectives. Indeed, they are sometimes regarded as adjectives when they modify nouns.”
LANGUAGE AS A UNIQUE HUMAN CAPACITY- Genetically coded ability:
- Unique cognitive system- Unique vocal system- Wiring- LAD
Where is language in the brain?
Why are vocal signals easier to use?
Work from a distance: sender and receiver do not have to be close
Work in the dark Receiver does not have to turn toward sender Can be used simultaneously with other
activities
Focus on sound signals
Rapidly fading signal - Special memory - Bears
Total feedback- Talking to yourself
Traditional transmission vs. Genetically coded behaviour Birds
Species-specific behaviour
LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION Interaction, negotiation of meaning
Function and intention Chimps and dolphins
SpecialisationInterchangeability Peacocks
DisplacementPrevarification
No Past Future Questions Lies
LANGUAGE AS A SOCIAL PRODUCT- Bonding (phatic communication)- Expressing self, establishing status in
community (e.g. keeping a dialect)- Operating social ties and institutions- Recording and passing on info from
generation to generation (schooling, literature)
- Elisa
What determines the nature of signals?
Higher position on the evolutionary scale?- Of birds and chimpanzees
Social activity? - Of cuckoos, bees and ancient hunters
Arbitrary symbols“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a ratherscornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean –neither more not less.” (L. Carroll: Alice in Wonderland)
Animals: signal meaningHumans: interpretation is based on consensus
Semanticity, openness Can you guess the meaning of the following
words? Staycation Credit crunch Bossnapping Unfriend Tweetup Jeggings Snollygosters
What is language? Systematic and generative A set of arbitrary symbols Primarily verbal signals but also visual Conventionalised meanings Used for communication only Operates in a speech community Essentially human Both language and language learning have
universal features