Summery Study of Language Unit 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
The Study of Language
1. Origins of language:
Bow wow theory: mensen deden de geluiden van dieren na. Het geluid wat ze hoorden zo werd het object genoemd.
Onomatopoeia: words containing sounds similar to the noises they describe (v.b. bang, cuckoo, dus woorden die klinken als geluiden)
[pic]
The human brain is not only large relative human size but also lateralized. (lateralized: divided into a left side and a right side, with control of functions on one side or the other)
Innateness hypothesis: the idea that humans are genetically equipped to acquire language.
2 Animals and human language
Communicative signals: behavior used intentionally to provide information.
Informative signals: behavior that provides information, usually unintentionally.
6 Distinct properties of human language:
1) Reflextivity: Humans are able to reflect on language and its uses. We can think and talk about language. A special property of human language that allows language to be used to think and talk about language itself. 2) Displacement: Humans can refer to past & future time and other things & places (than just the here and now) 3) Arbitrariness: There is no natural or ‘iconic’ relationship between linguistic signs and objects. Less arbitrary word sounds are onomatopoeic words (rare). (woorden, je kunt hier wel mee spelen, b.v. groot met grote letters en klein met kleine letters) if a chimpanzee can use a square plastic shape to convey the meaning of the word bleu it means that there is now a connection between the symbol and what it means. 4) Productivity: Creativity or open-endedness) the potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite.(the ability to produce new words) Ad 4: Animal communication is limited: fixed reference. E.g.: Bees communicate location of food with ‘a dance’, but only the horizontal distance ( not vertical. 5) Cultural transmission: Language is passes on from 1 generation to the next. (E.g.:
1. Origins of language:
Bow wow theory: mensen deden de geluiden van dieren na. Het geluid wat ze hoorden zo werd het object genoemd.
Onomatopoeia: words containing sounds similar to the noises they describe (v.b. bang, cuckoo, dus woorden die klinken als geluiden)
[pic]
The human brain is not only large relative human size but also lateralized. (lateralized: divided into a left side and a right side, with control of functions on one side or the other)
Innateness hypothesis: the idea that humans are genetically equipped to acquire language.
2 Animals and human language
Communicative signals: behavior used intentionally to provide information.
Informative signals: behavior that provides information, usually unintentionally.
6 Distinct properties of human language:
1) Reflextivity: Humans are able to reflect on language and its uses. We can think and talk about language. A special property of human language that allows language to be used to think and talk about language itself. 2) Displacement: Humans can refer to past & future time and other things & places (than just the here and now) 3) Arbitrariness: There is no natural or ‘iconic’ relationship between linguistic signs and objects. Less arbitrary word sounds are onomatopoeic words (rare). (woorden, je kunt hier wel mee spelen, b.v. groot met grote letters en klein met kleine letters) if a chimpanzee can use a square plastic shape to convey the meaning of the word bleu it means that there is now a connection between the symbol and what it means. 4) Productivity: Creativity or open-endedness) the potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite.(the ability to produce new words) Ad 4: Animal communication is limited: fixed reference. E.g.: Bees communicate location of food with ‘a dance’, but only the horizontal distance ( not vertical. 5) Cultural transmission: Language is passes on from 1 generation to the next. (E.g.: