Design Features of Human and Animal Communication systems

The Properties of Language

• What is Language (“big-L”)?

• What is a language (“little-L”)?

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grammar• The systematic “rules” and

patterns that govern word ordering.

• The body of knowledge that allows one to produce a particular language

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Grammar•A Body of Linguistic Knowledge

▫How to: Combine sounds Create words Build sentences Construct texts Participate in conversations

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Language is axiomatic to being human.

Communicative Signs

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Core Properties of all Communication

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}sign

•Form

•Meaning

•Function

Analyze this Non-Linguistic Sign

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Three Types of Signs•Iconic

▫Signifier (form) resembles signified (meaning)•Indexical

▫Signifier gives directional information•Arbitrary

▫No inherent relationship between form and meaning

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How About This Sign?

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? ? ?

Q: If words are signs – and they are – what kind of sign are they?

Arbitrariness• the connection between the

signifier (form) and the signified (meaning) is arbitrary

• these arbitrary relationships are agreed upon by speakers, i.e. a matter of convention (consensus)

• even interjections and onomatopoetic signs are arbitrary

▫ ouaoua ~ bow-wow ~ mŏng-mŏng ~ wan-wan

▫ aïe! ~ ouch! ~ aigo! ~ aiya!

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moon

signifier

signified

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Arbitrariness

moon

lune

yueiliang

luna

mwezi

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Arbitrariness

shoe“shu”

all

“tu”

two/too/to“tu”

cabbage“shu”

Productivity (“Creativity”)

•How many utterances are there in a language?

•Humans are capable of unlimited expression.

•We routinely create and comprehend novel utterances.

•“Rule Governed Creativity”

▫An infinite number of utterances can be created by a limited number of rules / patterns.

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Duality

• Linguistic units have a dual nature:1.They are observable physical events

“noise” or “image”2.They are more than simple physical events

They are produced in order to communicate meaning

They are connected to a concept

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Discreteness• What is “discrete” vs. “continuous”?• Discrete entities have clear boundaries;

they’re units; categorical.• Continuous entities don’t have clear

boundaries.• Language is…

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DISCRETE

Language is made up of structured units if…… you have knowledge of the system!Otherwise, utterances can sound like continuous

streams of sound, without discernible units.

The Last Three Design Features

• Displacement▫ We can communicate beyond the here and now▫ We are not “stimulus bound”

• Cultural Transmission▫ Grammars are transmitted from one generation to the

next▫ Acquiring “a language” requires involvement in a culture▫ COMPARE Genetic Transmission of big-L “Language”

Each human is born with Language; it’s a biological instinct.

• Interchangeability▫ All members of the community are physically capable of

transmitting and receiving messages

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Assessing the Design Features

• Arbitrariness

• Productivity

• Duality

• Discreteness

• Displacement

• Cultural Transmission

• Interchangeability

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Focus on Sentences• Consider the following finite lexicon:

▫ hugged▫ saw▫ laughed▫ dog▫ cat▫ the▫ a▫ cute▫ big▫ baby▫ we

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Create two different sentences using

only these words

*The we laughed a cute.*A a a baby cat dog the the.*Cat the hugged baby the.

Which of the Following Strings are Grammatical?

a. I shall speak to her tomorrow

b. I shall her tomorrow speak.

c. Tomorrow her to speaking do shall.

d. Speak shall I with her tomorrow.

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• Ik zal haar morgen spreken. Dutch

• Naeil ke-ege mal-ha-gessumnida. Korean

• Falar-ei com ela amanhã. Portuguese

*

*

*

What do we Mean by “Grammatical”?

• Prescriptive Grammar(Prescriptively

Grammatical)

▫ The set of rules (or patterns) that are deemed to be the “correct” or “proper” way to use a language

▫ Set by members of the community that possess the power to enforce the rules: teachers, editors

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What do we Mean by “Grammatical”?

• Descriptive Grammar(Descriptively

Grammatical)

▫ The set of rules (or patterns) that characterize observed language behavior

▫ Determined by observing language users and extracting relevant generalizations

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Determine the Grammaticality of…

Prescriptively

Grammatical

Descriptively Grammatical

If a student is sick, they should go to the school nurse.

No Yes

What are you talking about?Nancy danced a jig.

NoYes

YesYes

I’m going to just quickly finish my lunch.I haven’t never been to New York.

NoNo

YesYes/No

Bubba ain’t very bright. No Yes/No

Her I saw the house in. No No21

Grammaticality vs. Semantically Odd

• We believe that each men were created equal.

• The industrious bunnies baked a delicious cake for Mimi’s birthday.

• The red roses are yellow.

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*

√

!

Relationship between Prescription and Description

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Universe of all word combinations in language X

Combinations that speakers actually produce

Combinations that are officially sanctioned by the authorities

Descriptively grammatical but prescriptively ungrammatical

Descriptively ungrammatical but prescriptively grammatical

Comparing Languages: Who’s is Better?

• Do you have the right to say that somebody else’s language is too hard or backwards or illogical or ugly?

• We have to be wary of 2 traps:▫ Because language is changing, it is getting “corrupted.”▫ My language variety is more X than another.

• All languages are capable of communicating what they need to communicate.

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Who gets to judge what is good?