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Human language & animal communication (Animal communication systems…
Human language & animal communication
Language
rule-based
structured
complex
arbitrary
Design features
Charles Hockett, 1960
1. aural-vocal channel
Use vocal tract to send, and aural tract to recieve.
Generally dropped as sign-language is considered a langauge.
2. broadcast transmission & directional reception
send message anywhere (not to one recipient)
to receive message must be in the right position
3. rapid fading
signal does not persist
4. interchaneability
anyone can be a speaker/hearer
5. total feedback
speakers hear their message
6. semanticity
signs have an accepted meaning
no communication without this - any communication
system
must have this
7. arbitrariness
no direct connection between sign and signified
8. descreteness
separate units of communication
9. specialisation
communication for its own sake
distinguishes from annimal communication - danger calls esp.
alledgedly 'not controlled' 'inherrent effect on the body'
10. Displacement
talk about things not present (space/time)
talk about imaginary things/situations
11. productivity (creativity)
new messages from existing signs
12. traditional (cultural) transmission
not born knowing how to speak a language
13. duality of patterning
discrete units combined into different layers
14. prevarication
Ability to lie
15. reflexivity
can use language to talk about language
16. learnability
speakers of one language can learn another
Aitchison added
17. spontaneous usage
not only in response to stimuli
18. turn taking
patterns of communication between interlocutors
19. structure dependence
reliance on grammars or patterns
Written language:
not a 'natural language', but also not a 'man-made artifact' - particulary in the way we process this
(acquired dyslexia - shows processing of langage is similar)
Animal communication systems
Honeybee communication
Only performed by forager bees
(lacks interchangability)
go and find nectar, bring some back, and tell other bees where to go
part of communication is providing samples
communicate about:
direction
distance
quality
performed in the dark (in hive) so mostly touch
Distance:
shape of dance
different species have different standards
measure of effort (against wind) rather than distance
Round - short
Sickle dance - medium (italian only)
waggle dance - long distance
Direction:
plotted wrt sun
direction of waggle line in waggle dance
Quality
communicated by vigour
non-arbitrary
Assesment
arbitrariness - yes (shape of dance)
displacement - yes (absent objects)
productivity - limited
(messages may be 'new' but cannot tal about new things)
semanticity - yes, but limited
duality of patterning - no. dances can't be combined
Birdsong
can be used to deceive
Alex
Alex was an African Grey parrot who was kept by Irene Pepperburg and trained over the course of 30 years to answer questions which involved reasoning, counting etc.
Pepperburg was very sensitive to criticisms of the work and claimed that he could use a “two-way communication code” rather than language.
Limited vocabulary (around 150 words) but could differentiate different shapes and colours and allegedly produced “banerry” to mean “apple” from “banana” and “cherry”.
Whales & Dolphins
relatively underresearched due to water issues
suggests can communicate quite sophisticated information
can understand human commands
non-human primates
largely indexical - not arbitrary
usually symptomatic - in response to stimuli (in humans blushing, surprise)
lemur
noises
clicks - respond to novel object
clicks/grunts - while moving or a greeting
purr - while groooming
calls
yip/spat/bark - graded according to threat
note: graded and not discrete
Vervet monkeys
3 distinctive, arbitrary calls
eagle - look up
leapoard (large animals) - climb tree
snake - look on ground
great apes
orang-utans
solitary animals
loud calls to maintain territory
acts like self-naming (index)
used for social dominance activity
avoid/threaten/identify higher/lower members
chimpanzees
graded calls (16 identified)
greeting, location, emotional state, etc.
some evidence of cultural transmission
vocal vs gesture
more subtle, communicates more meaning
possibly more similar to human language
social behaviour
not clear how to differentiate this from vocal communication
human communication - small percentage verbal
Koko
Koko is a female gorilla who has been taught ASL be Penny Patterson. She has a working vocabulary of over 1000 signs and can understand around 2000 English words.
Claimed to have a measured IQ of between 75-90.
Kanzi
Kanzi is a male bonobo raised by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. He was born in captivity and stolen by another female, Matata. Matata was being taught to use lexigrams (symbols or pictures representing words) but was not progressing. When Matata was away, Kanzi started using the lexigrams apparently spontaneously. He also apparently learnt some American Sign Language from having watched videos of Koko. Claimed to have invented new words using existing lexigrams.
How much of the syntax is required? Very little – only need to understand two words for each sentence.
Note that Savage-Rumbaugh is wearing a mask. Why? To avoid the facial expression problem (the Clever Hans phenomenon).
The Brain & Body
Brain Structures
angular gyrus
visual representations to audio code
Wernicke's area
temporal lobe (left)
interprets audio code
Arcuate Fasiculus
communicates between Broca & Wernicke
Conduction aphasia:
caused by damage to arcuate fasciculus – connecting Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.
Usually involves inability to repeat accurately.
Suggests that in normal speech production and comprehension, other routes between areas are available.
Wernicke’s aphasia:
Loss of meaning; sufferers speak fluently but often nonsense, including nonsense words.
(Receptive aphasia – because difficulty understanding/receiving language.)
Caused by damage to Wernicke’s area.
Broca's area
frontal lobe (left hemisphere)
controls speech muscles via motor cortex
grammar importance
Developed Broca's area in:
homo habilus
homo erectus
Chimps have developed Broca's area
role for communication but not grammatical speech
Broca’s aphasia:
loss of grammar (in production and comprehension, but mainly affects production); also phonology/articulation.
Sufferers typically very frustrated by their condition. Also can have word-finding difficulties.
(Expressive aphasia – because difficulty expressing oneself.) Caused by damage to Broca’s area.
Motor cortex
word is pronounced
Cortex
recieves sensory information
voluntary motor functions
memory / reasoning / language
(language as a spearate function debateable)
visual cortex
occipital lobe
written words
non-verbal cues
Other common types of aphasia:
Anomia
:
inability to name things (find words for things). Affects us all to some degree. In some cases restricted to very small areas of vocabulary, e.g. a patient who could not remember words for fruit and vegetables. Caused by damage in different parts of brain, both hemispheres.
Foreign accent syndrome
:
disruption to phonology/pronunciation. Sufferers sound as though they are speaking with a foreign accent, but really that’s just a perception. Caused by damage to Broca’s area.
Asymmetry
Functional:
hemispheres contribue differently
Physical:
hemispheres physically different
Dichotic listening test
different sounds played to each ear
right ear advantage (linked to handedness)
more accurate linguistic to right ear
more accurate non-linguistic to left ear
lateralisation
most people left-lateralised
left
analysis, reason
preception of linguistic sounds
interpret lingustiic tone (e.g. Chinese)
literal meaning
grammar
right
synthesis, holistic reasoning
perception of non-linguistic sounds
intonation, emotional tone
metaphor, humor
spatial reasoning
Handedness
90% of population is R-handed
of these, 90% are L-lateralised for language
10% are L-handed
of these, 60% are L-lateralised for language
5% total R-lateralised for language
1% right handed, 4% left handed
Chimps show 50/50 handedness
did language lead to fine, but handed motor control in left brain/right hand, or other way around?
Brain size
large brain must have been selected for
bur does that have anythign to do with language?
are we starting with human language and big brain and reasoning from there (seems like yes to me!)
Physical Processes
Breath control
Tongue control
Neanderthals had this
no advantages for eating
Decended larynx
Innateness
Animal research findings:
best at human language no better than 2yo
intensive coaching vs. L1 learning
some slight evidence of transmission
Grammar is a big problem
Innateness Hypothesis
humans are born with
something
which allows acquisition of language
Philosophy
tabula rasa, knowledge from experience
empiricism
vs.
gain knwoledge through reason, some knowledge a priori
rationalism
emprircism vs. rationalism
behaviourism vs. nativism
Psychology
Empiricist view of language
language from operant conditioning
reinforcement/deprivation
Chomsky critiques Skinner's book
language can't be imitation as Language is productive (creative) finite number of symbols / infinite uttereces
must have key rules built in
children make same kinds of errors
and never make other 'possible' mistakes
Criticisms
operant conditioning
not punished for agrammatical speech
repeat the corrected version to child instead
Species-specificity
almost every human acquires languag
unrelated to IQ
animals can't learn it
language universals
despite differences languages are similar
sentences organised around a verb
all laguages have at least 3 vowels
a, i, u
tendencies to particular structures
object after verb then adjectives after nouns
dont find impossible grammar
SUbject, Object, Verb
six possibilities
SVO and SOV account for 90% languages
innate but unspecified grammar
new languages
pidgin
2 or more langauges come into contact
need for fast communication
grammatical structure of one, lexicon of other
creolisation
pidgin becomes grammatically complex language
happens because children learn as first language
impoverished input
creolisations follow grammatical universals
all creoles share features even if not in base language
Nicaragua Sign Language
Deaf children at home made up own family sign language
1970s came together as schools
"Pidgin" sign
new children creolised language
Poverty of the stimulus
limited amount
due to agrammatical adult speech, poor signal (noise)
conclusion: children must have some knowledge of language
Innate
language acquisition device (LAD)
knowledge about lingustifc universals
building blocks of language
hypothesis-making device
to make sophisticated guesses at grammar
evaluation measure
tell which version of hypothesis is best
Universal Grammar
children never make certain mistakes
similarities in human languages
options/paramaters
UG has certain paramaters
community goes along
e.g. SOV vs SVO, etc.
language gene
K family have SLI
4 generations, 50% have SLI
grammar only, normal IQ
motor control in lower face
One gene: FOXP2
FOXP2
homeobox gene
switches other genes on/off
grammar but facial movement
animals
mice squeek differently
vocal communication
chimps empathy
social engagement
Criticisms
how do we know stimulus is poor?
are languages that similar?
is language separate from other cognition?
Piaget no
FOXP2 not language specific
no partial LAD in other species
Modularity