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PSY 369: Psycholinguistics
Language and Communication
What do you think? What is language?
What is communication? Any means by which two (or more) individuals
exchange information Paralinguistic techniques - not involving vocalization
Hand signals, facial expressions, body language, nods, smiles, winks, etc.
Non-linguistic communication - that do involve vocalization
Grunts, groans, snorts, sighs, whimpers, etc. Not all produced sounds are intended to convey
messages, so they aren’t communication e.g., snoring
Some examples Animals - use a variety of methods to
communicate Dogs bark Birds sing Bees dance People talk - we use language (as well as other
methods) for communication
Features of Language (Hockett, 1963)
Arbitrariness Displacement Productivity Discreteness Semanticity Duality of patterning
Arbitrariness No resemblance between the language signal
and the thing that it represents
“dog”
“perro”
“hund”
“chien”
Features of Language Arbitrariness Displacement Productivity Discreteness Semanticity Duality of patterning
Displacement We can communicate about things that are physically
and temporally removed from us
“Did you see what happened in the high bar competition on Monday? That guy flew threw way over the bar six times, and then got a really low score.”
Features of Language Arbitrariness Displacement Productivity Discreteness Semanticity Duality of patterning
Productivity Our use of language is extremely creative.
We have a limited amount of linguistic elements (e.g., sounds and words), but can combine those elements in novel ways.
“I was tired of cleaning up after my dog in my backyard so I taught him to pole vault.”
Even though you’ve never heard this sentence before you can understand it effortlessly
Features of Language Arbitrariness Displacement Productivity Discreteness Semanticity Duality of patterning
Discretness Language signals are distinct
I don’t change my pitch or volume to denote size of an object
“dog” “dog” “dog”
Features of Language Arbitrariness Displacement Productivity Discreteness Semanticity Duality of patterning
Semanticity Language signals have meaning
“dog”
- Four legged animal- Common pet- Fur- Chases cats- Barks- Etc.
Features of Language Arbitrariness Displacement Productivity Discreteness Semanticity Duality of patterning
Duality of Patterning Language signals occur on two levels
Symbols are meaningful, discrete, and arbitrary
Smaller units that make up the meaningful units don’t have meaning
“dog”
/d/ /o/ /g/
Words and morphemes
Phonomes
Animals and language? Is language use a uniquely human ability?
Parrots - can memorize chunks of human speech
Polly wanna cracker
But are they really producing utterances based on an underlying meaning?
Animals and language? Is language use a uniquely human ability?
I believe you mentioned something
about food
Dogs - can learn to associate “food” or “walk” with particular behaviors
But is that the same thing as understanding the meaning of food and walk?
Animals and language? Is language use a uniquely human ability?
Tweet chirp chirp warble
warble chirp.
Bird use songs to serve territorial and courtship functions.
Can songs be used productively?
Translation: this is my tree
Animals and language? Is language use a uniquely human ability?
Chirp chirp warble warble tweet chirp?
Bird use songs to serve territorial and courtship functions.
Can songs be used productively?
Translation: Is this my tree?
Animals and language? Is language use a uniquely human ability?
NOVA's bee dance page
• Angle of the dance indicates direction• Rate of looping indicates distance
Honey bees dance to indicate where a source of nectar is. (von Frisch, 1954)
Animals and language?
Arbitrariness
Displacement
Productivity
Discreteness
Semanticity Duality of patterning
Parrot DogBirdsong
Bee dance
Human Language
?????
What is language? A difficult question to answer:
“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntrily produced symbols.”
Edward Sapir (1921)
What is language? A difficult question to answer:
“A language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”
Noam Chomsky (1957)
What is language? Some generally agreed upon conclusions
Symbolic Elements are used to represent something other than itself
Voluntary (or is it?) Language use is under our individual control
Language is systematic There is hierarchical structure that organizes linguistic
elements Modalities
Spoken, written, signed (sign language) Assumed primacy of speech - it came first