ANT 2063 EXAM

theory that suggests humans are born with certain innate knowledge or abilities, rather than acquiring them solely through experience or learning. (acquire language through LAD)

language is LEARNED though soical interactions (though LASS)

Language Acquisition Device, Noam Chomsky

an inherited mechanism that enables children to learn language

Language Acquistion Support System, Bruner

adults that interact with children and support the child’s language development through interactions

Universal grammar- Certain parts of languages are shared by all human languages and are considered to be innate and helps humans acquire language

the use of speaking and hearing as a key feature of language

The sounds of human language are sent out in all directions, but listeners perceive the sounds coming from a specific direction

Language signals dont last

speaker can send and recieve the same signal

speakers can hear themselves talk and they can monitor what they say as they speak

language sounds are specialized for communication. When humans speak it is to transmit information

specific sound signals can be linked to certain meanings

no necessary or causal connection between signals and its meaning

units used for communication can be separated into distinct units that cannot be mistaken for each other

Talk about things that aren’t in the present

Allows you to produce and comprehend new utterances that you’ve never spoken or heard before

language is learned in social groups

The ability to combine a limited set of meaningless sounds (phonemes) to create an infinite set of meaningful words and sentences

Productivity, displacement, traditional transmission, duality of patterning

humans are born with an innate ability to understand language. brain is pre-wired to acquire language and that exposure to language simply triggers this ability.

language acquisition is based on imitation, reinforcement, and conditioning. children learn language by observing and imitating others, and through positive and negative reinforcement.

language develops in fixed states

children develop their understanding of the world through forming theories based on their experiences and testing them out through observation

1.      Cooing (first months after birth): all vowel sounds

2.      Babbling (4-6 months): alternating consonants and vowels

3.      Holophrastic stage (~12 months): one-word utterances that express a sentence

4.      Two-word stage (after 18 months): combing words into 2-word utterances

learn to address people by their kinship term, not by name. First words children learn and kinship terms

greatly value teaching children to speak properly, no baby speak

The words that a person can understand when they hear or read them, even if they cannot produce those words themselves

The set of words that a person is able to use accurately and effectively to communicate their ideas and thoughts

-Australopithecus and Homo habilis

-Homo habilis shows distinct frontal lobe and parietal lobes and Broca’s and Wernicke’s area

brainstem and cerebellum

movement, digestion and breathing. Housekeeping brain

similar to the mammalian brain

~Amygdala and hippocampus, memory storage

~primary centers of emotions

Language, complex social interactions, advanced planning

-lower larynx= longer pharynx

~more flexible tongue allows greater variety of vowels and sounds

lower larynx

responsible for PRODUCTION of speech

~located in the frontal region of the left hemisphere

responsible for COMPREHENSION of language

~located in the temporal region in the left hemisphere

nonfluent aphasia

~can comprehend but problem with function words

Fluent aphasia

~incorrect sentence structure (nonsensical) and limited comprehension

Using several signals to send the same message

~leave pheromones at food source, bring some back to the hive, waggle dance all send the same message about food

-Waggle dance coveys a MESSAGE. Tells other bees the location of the food, directions to the food and the quality of the food

-Round dance: doesn’t convey message. Used to wake up other bees

Bird CALLS: shorter

Bird SONGS: more elaborate

animal commination signals are involuntary

human language is symbolic whereas animal communication represents animals’ internal state

human signals are learned whereas animal signals are genetically determined

the study of nonverbal communication through touch

nonverbal aspects of speech that convey meaning. It includes pitch, volume, tone, rhythm, intonation, and pauses

the study of eye movements, and gaze as a form of nonverbal communication.

-Intimate distance: When caressing and touch are appropriate (direct contact-1.5 ft)

-Personal distance: close friendship (1.5- 4 ft)

-social distance: impersonal interactions/business transactions (4-12 ft)

-public distance: greater than 12 ft

Emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators, adaptors

gestures that have specific meaning with direct verbal translation

accompany speech to depict what is being said (hand movements, facial expressions

convey emotion (smile, frown, tears)

coordinate interaction , control flow of conversation

release body tension

a hybrid of 2 languages that combines the vocabulary of one language with the grammar of the other. It is only used as a 2nd language and is considered a trade language

developed from a pidgin and can serve as a complete first language

where 2 varieties of the same language are used in different situations ( formal and informal)

alternating between two languages within a conversation

People gradually abandon their bilingualism in favor of speaking a more dominant language

when a person regularly uses 2 languages

is a parent language where ancestral and modern languages were derived from. It is a HYPPOTHICAL language

languages, as they branch off from a prototype language, change overtime in regular ways

numerous similarities in languages indicate that languages derive from a mother language

he processes by which the sounds of a language undergo systematic shifts or transformations over time

~Great English vowel shift: unconditional sound changes where long vowels did their “merry chase upward”

the processes by which the structure and form of words undergo transformations over time.

~words can be lost overtime

~typewriter, record player

changes in culture that effect language

~changing definitions of homosexuality

~words that meant something different back then

changes in the pronunciation of sounds that occur under specific linguistic conditions

~in English, "t" in "water" is different from "stop" because of the "r" sound.

modifications in the pronunciation of sounds that occur consistently, regardless of the linguistic context.

~EXAMPLE: the Great Vowel Shift

language changes because it us modified by he speakers of the language

~reflects culture change

~EXAMPLE: Words can expand their meanings over time. the word "mouse" originally a small rodent is now broadened to include computer devices.

the borrowing of words from other languages

~reanalysis

~EXAMPLES: English has borrowed numerous words from French, such as "restaurant" or "ballet."

-85% of the world’s languages have fewer than 100,000 speakers

-90% of the world’s population speaks only 10% of the worlds languages

-90% of the world population speaks the 100 most used languages

-50% of the world’s languages are moribund

-80% of the native Indian languages (US and Canada) are moribund

-In Australia, 90% of established 250 aboriginal languages are near extinction

-Africa and Asia have the highest number of living indigenous languages