Lecture IV.
25.10.2012
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION:
SIGNALS:
COMMUNICATIVE → give information about facts, are unintentional (show emotional state, education, etc.), for example if somebody is coughing, you know he have a cold
INFORMATIVE → give information about facts, are intentional (showing your middle finger to show “fuck off” or flashing the lights in your car to warn other drivers)
CHIMPANZEES AND LANGUAGE:
Washoe → was a female chimpanzee who was the first non-human to learn to communicate using American Sign Language, she knew how to show her owners when she wanted to drink or eat (basic needs), but only here and now → she only once produced two signs on her own, when she saw a swan she said :”water” and “bird”
Sarah → was a female chimpanzee who was given a number of plastic objects to put them in given order to get some food (for example she had to show a triangle to get a banana) → 4 objects in given order meant: Mary give chocolate Sarah
Lana → was a female chimpanzee who was taught how to press some buttons in a machine to get some food or drink (for example she had to press 4 buttons showing different pictures to give communication: Please machine give water)
BIRDS:
birdsongs → more complex pairs of notes
birdcalls → one or more short notes
birds use it to stay out their territory or to attract mates
it is used in immediate environment (when they see some danger or find some food)
parrots say only what we taught them → they do not realize what they say → they have fun when imitating people → they treat each word as a different sound and do not see any correlations between them (for example if a parrot know word “cat”, he cannot make plural “cats”)
BEES:
bees dance:
round
sickle
tail- wagging
each type of dance shows the distance of the food source
each type of dance shows flying distance, not walking
each type of dance shows the location of food only in the horizontal distance, not vertical
FEATURES OF LANGUAGE:
DISPLACEMENT → enable people to communicate regardless of place and time, to talk about different places and times in that moment (for example we are talking about Berlin and 1987 now)
ARBITRARINESS → the form of linguistic sign does not reflect the meaning, the form of a sign is not directly related to the meaning it represents
CREATIVITY → we can create an unlimited number of sentences with the use of a limited set of words and a limited set of rules
CULTURAL TRANSMISSION → we acquire language from the culture we grow in → it does not work with animals (for example if a dog takes care of little kittens, they won't bark)
DUALITY (DOUBLE ARTICULATION) → we produce language at two different levels ( for example we can say “cat”, but we also distinguish separate sounds /c/ /a/ /t/ )
ANIMALS USE A COMMUNICATION CODE → THIS IS NOT A LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE UNIVERSLAS:
→ features that occur across natural languages
Whenever human exist, language exist.
There are no primitive language. All languages are equally complex and equally capable of expressing any idea of the universe. The vocabulary of any language can be expanded to include new words for new concepts.
All languages change through life.
The relationships between the sounds and the meanings of spoken languages and between the gestures and meanings of sign languages are for the most part arbitrary.
All human languages use a finite set of discrete sounds and gestures that are combined to form meaningful elements of words, which themselves may be combined to form an infinite set of possible sentences.
All grammars contain rules of a similar kind for the formation of words and sentences.
Every spoken language has a class of vowels and consonants.
All languages have similar grammar categories.
There are universal semantic properties like “male” or “female”, “animate” or “human” found in every language in the world.
Every language has a way of negating, forming questions, issuing commands, referring to the past or future.
Speakers of all languages are capable of producing and comprehending an infinite set of sentences.
Any normal child born anywhere in the world, of any racial, geographical, social or economical heritage is capable of learning any language to which she/ he is exposed.