Lecture: Language and communication
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What is the structural description of language?
a set of symbols that can be arranged in certain ways
What is the functional description of language?
a complex code by which agents can communicate information
What is natural language?
created by cultures of humans
What is artificial language?
created by individuals or small teams
What is computer language?
an artificial language for communication with computers, typically lacking ambiguity
What is animal communication called and how does it work?
“zoosemiotics” and works through gesture, expression, gaze following, vocalization, olfactory, communication, and electric, colouration
What is the function of animal communication?
dominance, courtship, ownership, food alert, alarm, metacommunication
What is human language like?
We all know how to do it, but we don’t know how we do it, so we have to study it like any other phenomenon. Our knowledge of how to speak is implicit, not explicit
How is language a brain interface?
Like a computer programming language, natural languages allow interfacing between what might be two very different brains
What is phonology?
How sounds are organized and used in language
What is morphology?
How sound and meaning interact in words
What is syntax?
How sentences may be put together in a language
what is semantics?
the meaning in language
What is pragmatics?
How sentences interact with context to change meaning (e.g.,”how are you”? Or “do you have the time”?)
How many phonemes does the english language have?
44
In english do prefixes change part of speech?
No, for example husband with the prefix ex doesnt change the fact that its a noun. Where as suffixes do.
What are the rules for using affixes?
You can’t use it if its blocked
What do some english verbs have (semantics)?
Some english verbs have manner (e.g., manner of motion) like rolled, slip, limped etc. French can have motion and path
What is logic/ symbolic logic?
Logic is a formal, normative system of reasoning. Symbolic logic specifies ways that sentences can be represented unambiguously. For all x (if cat (x) then mammal (x)). But typical logic
What does chomsky say about animal’s learning communication?
Chomsky says that getting non-human animals to try to talk is like tying to teach bees to build beaver dams. Linguistics agree that animals do not have a language- what they do is primitive compared to what humans do that it is not even deserving of this word
How are animals different from children in terms of learning language?
Animals require hundreds of trials. They have to use associative learning to associate a sound or picture with a concept. With humans, they do it naturally (you don’t need to teach a child language, they just learn it from hearing)
Intrabrain communication: the language of thought
Jerry fodor put forward the notion that our minds use “mentalese” or a language of thought. The fact that you have trouble sometimes expressing what you want to say supports this view. How could you know what you wanted to say if the internal language were natural language. It remains contorversial