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WHAT IS LANGUAGE?. DEFINITIONS HUMAN AND ANIMAL LANGUAGES. Different definitions for different purposes. Language as a system as a universal human capacity as a means of communication as a social phenomenon. HUMAN AND ANIMAL LANGUAGES The issue of continuity. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
DEFINITIONS
HUMAN AND ANIMAL LANGUAGES
Different definitions for different purposes
Language
as a system as a universal human capacity as a means of communication as a social phenomenon
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?
Animal communication
Through sounds, smells,
visual signals and touching:
- of birds, bees, ants,
bears and dogs
Mixed signals Species-specific (cats and dogs)
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
What determines the nature of signals?
Higher position on the evolutionary scale?
- Of birds and chimpanzees
Social activity?
- Of cuckoos, bees and ancient hunters
Differences (Hocket)
Use of sound signals
- vocal auditory channel
Rapidly fading signal
- special types of memory
Total feedback- hearing our voice- talking to ourselves- difficult for the deaf
Interchangeabilty- male crickets chirp- working bees dance- male pheasants’ mating dance
Specialisation- only for communication
Openness, creativity
- animal communication:limited set of signs, triggered by a stimulus
- human language constantly changes, new items are added, is freely applied
Arbitrariness
- animals: often connection between signal
and meaning
- humans: no connection, interpretation is
based on consensus
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more not less.”
(Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland)
Discreteness
Duality
Patterning- bats, stabs but NOT sbat- boathouse vs. Houseboat- Jack kissed Mary. Vs. Mary kissed Jackbut NOT Kissed Jack Mary
“But I’m not so think as you drunk I am.” (Sir J.C. Squire, writer)
Functionality, intention
- cause, purpose consideration
- dolphins, Washoe and Sara
Displacement
“Bees are not as busy as we think they are. They just
can’t buzz any slower.” (F.M. Hubbard, American humorist)
NO
- past
- future
- questions
Prevarification- lies
Reflexiveness
- talking about language
Traditional transmission
- genetically imprinted behaviour vs.
socioculturally transmitted
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