Three Minute ReviewLANGUAGE• Sounds phonemes morphemes words sentences

meaning– phonology

• sample problem: mondegreens

– morphology

– syntax• sample problem: ambiguous grammar

– semantics

– deep meaning

• Language in the brain– Broca’s aphasia vs. Wernicke’s aphasia

• How much does language influence thoughts?– do words enable concepts?

– Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION• thin slices of behavior can be excellent predictors

– 65-95% of communication is nonverbal• interpersonal distance

– intimate-personal-social-public– affected by relationship, situation, status, gender, which

direction people are facing• physical touch (haptics)

– affected by relationship• facial expression

– common across cultures– similar among primate species– can’t always be totally faked, esp. smiles

Test Yourself

The words “bear” and “bare” involve:

A. different morphemes and phonemes

B. the same morphemes and phonemes

C. different morphemes but the same phonemes

D. the same morphemes but different phonemes

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Zygomatic Smile

How do we learn grammar?

B. F. Skinner• language and grammar are learned through operant conditioning

Noam Chomsky• there is an innate language module or instinct -- Language Acquisition Device (LAD)• there are too many combinations to learn• kids say things they’ve never heard adults say, e.g., “I gived it to her”• people can determine whether novel nonsense is grammatical, e.g., “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously”

Grammar Learning in Children

• generalization and overextension– words

• Baby Kate’s “door-door”

– rules• children can generalize (the wug

test)• sometimes they overgeneralize

– kick kicked

– play played

– blink blinked

– think thinked (thought)

– drink drinked (drank)

Acquisition of Language in Humans• critical period for phonemes

– babies under ~ 6 mos. can learn to distinguish phonemes from any language

– after that, it is very difficult to learn– adult Japanese have a hard time distinguishing /l/

and /r/

• word learning– babbling

• “ba-ba-ba”, “dee-dee-dee”• “ba-dee”, “dah-dee”

– 0 to 60,000 words

Acquisition of Language in Humans

• critical period for grammar“Genie”• discovered in 1970 at age 13 in L.A. suburb• blind mother, highly-abusive mentally-ill father• 4’ 6”, 59 lbs., severely neglected and abused• had been confined to a small bedroom her whole life, tied to a chair, caged in a crib• could speak in only a few words, e.g., “Stop it!” and “No more” and could not speak in full sentences• received language tutoring from linguists and psychologists• learned a large vocabulary• learned to speak in immature, pidgin-like sentences

• “At school scratch face.”• “Applesauce buy store.”• “Neal come happy; Neal not come sad.”

• problems with grammar such as “the man was bitten by the dog”

For proper grammar, language has to be acquired before ~6

Can Animals Learn Language?

• non-human primates do not have vocal apparatus for speech

• changes to human ancestors about 250,000 years ago enabled speech – larynx became lower

• enabled speech• risk of choking

Can Animals Learn Language?

Washoe (chimp)sign language

Koko (gorilla)sign language

Nim Chimpsky (chimp)sign language

Kanzi (bonobo)symbolic language

How good is animal “language”?• some researchers (e.g., the Gardners who

raised Washoe) were very secretive about their data

• apes’ sign language was a very coarse approximation of real American Sign Language

• vocabulary estimated at 25 - 125 “words”• Jane Goodall remarked that many of the

signs were also seen in chimps in the wild• bonobos might be better than common

chimps (Kanzi learned when mom was trained unsuccessfully)

• it’s communication, but is it language?

How good is animal “language”?• typical two-year old human child

– “Look at that train Ursula bought.”

• Nim Chimpsky– “Nim eat Nim eat”– “Tickle me Nim play”– “Me banana you banana me you give”– “Banana me me me eat”– “Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange

give me you”

• Jean Chretien– "A proof is proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof

and when you have a good proof it's proven" (Sept. 2002)– They say that the money we promised three years ago -- bo be new

money this year -- is no longer new money. We have not paid it yet and it’s old new money versus new money. For me new money is new money.” (Feb. 2003)

Evolution of Language?

One theory (Giacomo Rizzolatti)• through evolution, a brain area in left

frontal cortex (F5 in monkey; Broca’s in human) becomes specialized for:

1. own hand actions’

2. others hand actions

3. others’ gestures

4. others’ verbal communication

mirror neurons• “monkey see, monkey do”

…but what about “that damn bird”?

Alex PepperbergAfrican Grey Parrot

• identifies ~50 objects, shapes, colors, material, numbers<7• can answer comparison and combination questions

• babbles at dusk