Introduction to Linguistics Chapter 2

Introduction to Linguistics - Chapter 2: Animal & Human Language

• Linguistics is the scientific study of language, encompassing what's known when a language is understood.
• Core areas in linguistics include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
• Other important areas of linguistics are sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, historical linguistics, language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and computational linguistics.
• A key question in linguistics is whether other creatures can learn to communicate with humans using language.
• Another key question is if human language has unique and distinguishing characteristics compared to other communication systems found in nature.

Communicative and Informative Signals

• Signals can be informative, unintentionally conveying something, or communicative, where the sender intentionally communicates something.
• Examples of human informative signals include a sneeze (indicating illness), shifting around (indicating discomfort), unusual clothing (indicating a problem) or a strange accent (potentially indicating a different origin).
• Examples of human communicative signals include saying "I'm sorry", "I don't think I can make it to the meeting", and other expressions.
• Examples of animal communicative signals include a bird's alarm call (indicating a predator's presence).

Properties of Human Language - Displacement

• Animal communication is usually tied to the immediate situation or event.
• Human language allows communication about things that are not present in the immediate environment (e.g., the past, future, hypothetical situations).
• Humans can use language to discuss abstract concepts or things that don't physically exist.

Properties of Human Language - Arbitrariness (in human language)

• Generally, there's no inherent connection between a language form and its meaning.
• The relationship between words and objects they denote is arbitrary.
• For instance, the word "dog" in English and "کلب" in Arabic have no inherent resemblance to a dog.
• Some words (onomatopoeia) sound like the thing they describe, but their structure is not essential in most cases.

Properties of Human Language – Arbitrariness (in animal communication)

• Animal communication generally has a clear connection between the message and the signal used to convey it.
• Animal communication typically uses a limited set of signals, often linked to specific situations.

Properties of Human Language - Productivity (in humans)

• Human language has an infinite potential to produce new utterances.

• Humans constantly create novel expressions and descriptions by combining existing linguistic elements.

Properties of Human Language - Productivity (in animals)

• Animal communication systems lack the flexibility of human language.
• Typically, animals have a limited, fixed set of signals and cannot create new ones to describe novel situations.

Properties of Human Language - Cultural Transmission (in humans)

• Humans learn language from other people in a social environment - through interaction
• Human's develop their language from their environment and culture.
• Language learning is acquired socially, not genetically.

Properties of Human Language - Cultural Transmission (in animals)

• Animals are born with a set of specific signals that are produced instinctively.
• Unlike humans, animal communication is not learned.

Properties of Human Language - Duality (in humans)

• Human speech is structured at two levels.
• At the first level, individual sounds don't have meaning on their own.
• Combined together in different ways, sounds create meaningful elements like words and phrases.
• This dual nature is economical — one small set of sounds create a large number of distinct words.

Properties of Human Language - Duality (in animals)

• Animal communication signals are fixed and cannot be broken down into smaller meaningful elements

Talking to Animals

• People often think animals understand human language based on their reactions; this is not always the case.

• The animal typically responds in a fixed, programmed manner to a sound stimulus but not based on meaning

• Animals of one species cannot usually learn to produce the sounds of another.

Chimpanzees and Language - Research Studies:

• Some researchers have tried teaching chimpanzees human language using methods such as vocalization shaping, sign language, but these attempts have not resulted in true human-level language skills.
• Significant research by Kellogg, Hayes, and the Gardners used chimpanzees as subjects, but ultimately, no convincing demonstration of their ability to use language has emerged.

The Controversy Surrounding Animal Language

• Can animals speak human-like languages?
• Can animals perform linguistically to a comparable level as a human child of the same age? The answer is no, from documented observations of animal behavior.

Two Ways to Think About "Using Language"

• Human children and animal behavior, may both exhibit some rudimentary forms of communication, however the complexity and creativity of human languages are not observed in other species.
• Language uniquely distinguishes humans from other creatures.
• Homework: review pages 80, and answer questions 1, 2, & 5.