5/31/11 1 1 Thinking and Language Chapter 9 Psy12000 Exam 2 Results • Top Score: 50 • Mean: 40 • Median: 40 • Mode: 46 • N: 47 • SD: 12.3 • Top Cumulative Score: 97 Objectives • What are the basic structures of language • Describe development of language in children • Can/do animals communicate? • What is the relationship between language and thinking? Is one necessary for the other to occur? • What are different types of thinking? How accurate are they? How quick are they? 4 Language Language, our spoken, written, or gestured work, is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves and others. Language transmits culture. M. & E. Bernheim/ Woodfin Camp & Associates Noam Chomsky (1972) “When we study human language we are approaching what some might call the ‘human essence,’ the qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to humans” The Importance of Language • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuUAPVFFCRQ&feature=fvwrel5/31/11 2 Recommended YouTube Videos on Language • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZatrvNDOiE&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsaqD9FVRsM&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oimnxkEj4ns • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTbI-G42JoY&feature=related • Genie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXeJ6qnsdD4 Language Acquisition 1-4 8 Language Structure Phonemes: (phonema [Greek]: a sound uttered) The smallest distinct sound unit in a spoken language. For example: bat, has three phonemes b · a · t chat, has three phonemes ch · a · t 9 Language Structure Morpheme: The smallest unit that carries a meaning. It may be a word or part of a word. For example: Milk = milk Pumpkin = pump . kin Unforgettable = un · for · get · table 10 Structuring Language Phrase Sentence Meaningful units (290,500) … meat, pumpkin. Words Smallest meaningful units (100,000) … un, for. Morphemes Basic sounds (a bit more than 40 in English) … ea, sh. Phonemes Composed of two or more words (326,000) … meat eater. Composed of many words (infinite) … She opened the jewelry box. 11 Grammar Grammar is the system of rules in a language that enable us to communicate with and understand others. Grammar Syntax Semantics 12 Semantics Semantics is the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences. For example: Semantic rule tells us that adding –ed to the word laugh means that it happened in the past.5/31/11 3 13 Syntax Syntax consists of the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences. For example: In English, syntactical rule says that adjectives come before nouns; white house. In Spanish, it is reversed; casa blanca. Earrings Tiny Red Two 14 Language Development Children learn their native languages much before learning to add 2+2. We learn, on average (after age 1), 3,500 words a year, amassing 60,000 words by the time we graduate from high school. Time Life Pictures/ Getty Images 15 When do we learn language? Babbling Stage: Beginning at 4 months, the infant spontaneously utters various sounds, like ah-goo. Babbling is not imitation of adult speech. 16 When do we learn language? One-Word Stage: Beginning at or around his first birthday, a child starts to speak one word at a time and is able to make family members understand him. The word doggy may mean look at the dog out there. 17 When do we learn language? Two-Word Stage: Before the 2nd year a child starts to speak in two-word sentences. This form of speech is called telegraphic speech because the child speaks like a telegram: “Go car,” means I would like to go for a ride in the car. 18 When do we learn language? Longer phrases: After telegraphic speech, children begin uttering longer phrases (Mommy get ball) with syntactical sense, and by early elementary school they are employing humor. You never starve in the desert because of all the sand-which-is there.5/31/11 4 19 When do we learn language? Question? Is it through nature or nurture that we learn how to speak? 21 Explaining Language Development 1. Operant Learning: Skinner (1957, 1985) believed that language development may be explained on the basis of learning principles such as association, imitation, and reinforcement. 22 Explaining Language Development 2. Inborn Universal Grammar: Chomsky (1959, 1987) opposed Skinner’s ideas and suggested that the rate of language acquisition is so fast that it cannot be explained through learning principles, and thus most of it is inborn. 23 Explaining Language Development 3. Statistical Learning and Critical Periods: Well before our first birthday, our brains are discerning word breaks by statistically analyzing which syllables in hap-py-ba-by go together. These statistical analyses are learned during critical periods of child development. 24 Language & Age Learning new languages gets harder with age.5/31/11 5 Another Interview with Noam Chomsky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOIM1_xOSro 26 Do animals have a language? Animals & Language Honey bees communicate by dancing. The dance moves clearly indicate the direction of the nectar. 27 Do Animals Exhibit Language? There is no doubt that animals communicate. Vervet monkeys, whales and even honey bees communicate with members of their species and other species. Rico (collie) has a 200-word vocabulary Copyright Baus/ Kreslowski 28 The Case of Apes Chimps do not have a vocal apparatus for human-like speech (Hayes & Hayes,1951). Therefore, Gardner and Gardner (1969) used American Sign Language (ASL) to train Washoe, a chimp, who learned 182 signs by the age of 32. Teaching Language to Chimpanzees Washoe (1965-2007) • Video on animal language Lucy Temerlin (1964-1987) See also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2010/oct/13/chimpanzee-gorilla-vocalisation-body-language 30 Gestured Communication Animals, like humans, exhibit communication through gestures. It is possible that vocal speech developed from gestures during the course of evolution. Many psychologists study nonverbal and paraverbal communication5/31/11 6 31 Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is instrumental in teaching chimpanzees a form of communication. When asked, this chimpanzee uses a sign to say it is a baby. Paul Fusco/ Magnum Photos 32 Computer Assisted Language Others have shown that bonobo pygmy chimpanzees can develop even greater vocabularies and perhaps semantic nuances in learning a language (Savage-Rumbaugh, 1991).
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