Transcript Language

Language and Cognition
Its all about communication!!!
Language can be…..
Language Facts
1. Linguists estimate that 6800 languages exist in the
world today.
2. Only 600 languages have speaking populations robust
enough to support their survival past the end of the
century. Languages need at least 100,000 speakers to
survive the ages
3. 66 percent of the world’s children are raised as
bilingual speakers.
4. Only 6.3 percent of U.S. residents are bilingual.
5. 1/3 of the world’s languages originated in Africa
Language development
• How many words do you think you
know now?
Probably around 80,000.
After age 1 you average about 13
words a day.
All languages contain….
Phonemes
• The smallest units of
sound in a language.
• English has about 44
phonemes.
• Chug has three
phonemes, ch, u, g.
How many
phonemes
does platypus
have?
Morphemes
• The smallest unit of
meaning
• Can be words like a or
but.
• Can also be parts of
words like prefixes or
suffixes…”ed” at the
end of a word means
past tense.
• How many morphemes in
the word “cats”
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
Structuring Language
Phonemes
Basic sounds (about 40) … ea, sh.
Morphemes
Smallest meaningful units (100,000)
… un, for.
Words
Meaningful units (290,500) … meat,
pumpkin.
Phrase
Composed of two or more words
(326,000) … meat eater.
Sentence
Composed of many words (infinite)
… She opened the jewelry box.
Grammar
Is this the White
House or the House
White?
• The rules of a
language.
• Syntax: the order
of words in a
language.
• In English,
adjectives come
before nouns, but
not in
Spanish/French!
Semantics
• The set of rules by which we derive
meaning in a language.
• Adding ed at the end of words
means past tense.
Language Acquisition
Stages that we learn
language…
1. Babbling Stage
2. Holophrastic Stage
(one word stage)
3. Telegraphic Speech
Stage (2-word stage)
• After the telegraphic
stage we get
overgeneralization.
How do we learn language?
Social Learning Theory
• B.F. Skinner from the
Behaviorist School
• Baby may imitate a
parent.
• If they are reinforced
they keep saying the
word.
• If they are punished,
they stop saying the
word.
Chomsky’s Theory
(Inborn Universal Grammar)
• We learn language
too quickly for it to
be through
reinforcement and
punishment.
• Inborn universal
language acquisition
device
Critical period
• Language Machines - A one year old’s brain is
statistically analyzing which syllables most often go
together to discern word breaks
• Can we keep it up?
• No, childhood seems to represent a critical period for
mastering certain aspects of language
• Once the critical period is over mastering the
grammar of another language is very difficult
• When a young brain does not learn language its
language-learning capacity never develops.
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Does language influence
our thinking?
Whorf’s Linguistic
Determinism
• The idea that
language determines
the way we think.
• The Hopi tribe has
no past tense in
their language, so
Whorf says they
rarely think of the
past.
Anecdotal Support
• 1984
• “To destroy a people, destroy their language.” poet Joy
Harjo
• Many bilinguals report they have a different sense of self
depending on which language they speak (Matsumoto,
1994)
– English has a rich vocab for self-focused emotions such as anger
– While Japanese has more words for interpersonal emotions such as
sympathy
We create when we need
• Skiers have different words for snow
– Powder, corn, and ice
• Computer Revolution
– I hate that my hardware won’t run the new software
– I’m going to google it
– I’m just going to word process instead of IM’ing my
friends or updating Myspace. You see, I’m really
depressed that my Ipod won’t log on to Itunes.
• Experience shapes language.
Thinking in Images
To a large extent thinking is language-based.
When alone, we may talk to ourselves. However,
we also think in images.
We don’t think in words, when:
1. When we open the hot water tap.
2. When we are riding our bicycle.
Images and Brain
Imagining a physical activity activates the same
brain regions as when actually performing the
activity.
Jean Duffy Decety, September 2003
Do animals use language?