ESLB2153 Introduction to Language and Linguistics
ESLB4014 An Introduction to Linguistics
Topic 1: The Properties of Human Language
The Properties of Human Language
• Unique system of communication
• Informative signals: signals which you have not intentionally sent body language
• Communicative signals: signals you use intentionally to communicate something
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Properties of human language
• Displacement
• Human language refers to the past, present and future-
last night, at school, I’m flying to Paris next week
• Abstract concepts: Things that do not exist in real life,
e.g. superman, batman, Santa Claus
• Animal communication- immediate moment
• E.g.: Bee language: dance routine to communicate the
location of nectar
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Properties of human language
• Arbitrariness
– no natural connection between a
linguistic form and its meaning=
arbitrary relationship
– Dog in English andلب/ كin Arabic.
• In animal communication-
– a connection between the message
and the signal used to convey the
message.
– Consists of a fixed and limited set of
vocal forms
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Properties of human language
• Productivity
o Humans are capable of creating new expressions
for new objects- infinite
o a language user can manipulate his linguistic
resources open endedness
o Animals have limited set of signals to choose
from- fixed reference
o Cannot produce any new signals to describe
novel experiences.
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Properties of human language
• Cultural transmission
– We acquire language with other speakers not from
parental genes
– The first language is acquired in a culture
– A Korean child living in USA.
• Animal communicative signals are produced
instinctively.
– Evidence for dialect differences
– Suggests that may be impact of “culture”
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Properties of human language
• Duality
– Two levels: distinct sound & distinct meaning
• Physical level at which we can produce individual sounds e.g.
n, b, i.
• Meaning level: when we produce sounds in combination e.g.:
nib, bin
– Economical feature
• Animal communicative signals appear to be fixed
– Typically cannot be broken into parts- meow is not
m+e+o+w
– Again, some evidence this may not be completely true
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Talking to animals
• Is language the exclusive property of human beings?
• Are the communication systems used by other creatures at all like human linguistic knowledge?
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Chimpanzees and language
• Some researchers devoted their time to teach a
chimpanzee how to use human language- not
successful
– 1930s Gua- was able to understand 100 words but
did not produce any
– 1940s Viki- produced poorly articulated versions of
mama, papa, and cup
– Result non-human primates lack a physically
structured vocal tract needed to produce sounds
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Talking to animal
• Washoe
– Use a version of American Sign Language
– Raised like a human
– After 3 and half years came to use more than 100 words
• Airplane, baby, banana
– Combine them to produce sentences
• More fruit
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Talking to animals
• Sarah and Lana
– They both use word symbols
– Use a set of plastic shapes that represent words to communicate with humans
– Trained to associate shapes with objects or actions
– Was capable of producing sentences
• Mary give chocolate Sarah
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The controversy
• Can animals speak human-like languages? NO
• Terrace argues researchers over-interpreted their results
• Animals produce a particular behavior in response to a particular stimulus or ‘noise’, but do not
actually understand what the words mean.
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Kanzi
• Learned the symbols not by being taught but
by being exposed to it in an early age.
• Were those chimpanzees capable of taking
part in interactions by using symbols chosen
by humans and not chimpanzees?
• Did they perform linguistically on a level of a
child their age?
• Humans possess a natural, inborn facility to be
creative with symbols; as far as we know,
animals do not.
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Koko the Gorilla
• Use sign language and language boards/ computers
• Example of a conversation (live via internet)
– HaloMyBaby: Is Koko aware that she's chatting with thousands
of people now?
– LiveKOKO: Good here.
– DrPPatrsn: Koko is aware.
– Question: Do you like to chat with other people?
– […]
– LiveKOKO: fine nipple
– DrPPatrsn: Nipple rhymes with people, she doesn't sign people
per se, she was trying to do a "sounds like..."
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Koko the Gorilla
• Also interested in emotional content of words, how interpreted our behaviors and objects
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOVS9zotSqM
• Koko reportedly cried when told of the death of Robin Williams.
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Language learning?
• Rico:
– Kaminski, Call & Fisher, 2004
– Learned 200 nouns
• Chaser:
– Pilley and Reid, 2011
– Learned 600 names of objects
– Also can deduce new objects; show inference
– May be partially do to novelty effects
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6479QAJuz8
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