Language & Communication

Language & CommunicationPsychology 485March 2, 20101OutlineIntroductionDifference between communication and languageWhy learn to communicate? Why learn language? What is learned?Different types of communicationAnimals learning languageHow is it learned?Innate or learned?2What is communication?Passing of information from one individual to anotherA two-way process: must consider both the signaller and the receiver

Cues & SignalsCueanimate or inanimate feature of the world that can be used as a guide for behaviourSignalan act or structure that evolved to alter the behaviour of another organism, and is effective because receivers response3What is language?4 main properties of language:SemanticArbitrarinessProductivityDisplacement4What is language?4 main properties of language:SemanticLanguage has meaningArbitrarinessProductivityDisplacement5What is language?4 main properties of language:SemanticArbitrarinessThere is no rational relationship between the signal and its meaningThere is nothing housy about the word houseProductivityDisplacement6What is language?4 main properties of language:SemanticArbitrarinessProductivityA finite number of units can be used to create an infinite number of utterancesThe dog bit the manThe man bit the dogDisplacement

7What is language?4 main properties of language:SemanticArbitrarinessProductivityDisplacementCommunicate ideas that are not in immediate vicinity (spatially or temporally)I ate lunch at the A&W in HUB

8Communication vs LanguageCan animal communication be classed as language?SemanticsBy definition, signals have meaningArbitrarinessNot always e.g. Vervet monkeysProductivitySome evidence of animal syntax

9Syntax (productivity?) in animalsChickadeesA, B, C, D note callsNotes always in right order, but different combinationsD notes may indicate predators or danger

Putty-nosed monkeyspyow means leopardhack means eagleMales utter up to 3 pyows and up to 4 hacks in sequence; means get the hell outta here!

10Communication vs LanguageCan animal communication be classed as language?SemanticsBy definition, signals have meaningArbitrarinessNot always e.g. Vervet monkeysProductivitySome evidence of animal syntaxDisplacementBee dance shows spatial displacementBut, to be language, all 4 properties must be met... Not just 1 or 2

11Why communicate?Communication is the backbone of all social activityMatingCaring for offspringForagingSafety

Cooperation? Deception?How has evolution shaped communication patterns?More on this when we talk about morality12Why language?What is adaptive about language?Why evolve language as opposed to relying on (simpler) communication?

Hard to address this issue since only humans are agreed to have languageMemes and social/cultural transmissionEffect of language on cognitive abilities13Social TransmissionMemesCultural analogue of genesunit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another

Did language evolve to allow for social and cultural transmission?More efficient social learning14Social TransmissionSocial/cultural transmission can occur without languageJapanese macaquesPotato washing behaviourStarted by 1 monkey, now common

New Caledonian CrowsTool manufacturePandanus tool varies according to geographic area

15Effect on cognitive abilitiesStudy adaptiveness of language by looking at how it affects various abilitiesHow to get rid of language during an experiment?Verbal shadowing tasks16Effect on cognitive abilitiesExample: Geometric module

Rats, childrenadultsDoes spatial language (e.g. left, right) affect use of feature?

Adults doing a verbal shadowing task revert to geometryHermer-Vazquez, Spelke, and Katsnelson (1999)

But... Some animals without language (e.g. fish) can use both geometry and features

17Questions to considerIs language and communication distinct processes, or is language just a specialized form of communication?Is there a continuum?

To what extent does language affect our cognitive abilities? Does this make us significantly different from other species?18What is learned?Forms of communicationTeaching animals human language19

If a lion could talk, we could not understand him Wittgenstein,1919, Philsophical Investigations20

Forms of communicationOlfactory communication

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Forms of communicationVisual communicationHandicapping signalsColour changesBody languageBee waggle dance

22Forms of communicationVocal communicationVocal callsAlarm, roars, hisses, etcSongsHuman language23Can animals learn human language?Initial attempts to teach apes language failedAnatomical constraintsLack of vocal cords, different control of lips and tongueLater attempts used other formatsAmerican Sign LanguageLexigrams24Ape LanguageWashoeRaised by husband-wife researcher team; GardnersTrained with ASL250 signsNovel combinations?Swan = water birdNim ChimpskyHerb Terrace~150 signsLong utterances, but repetitiveNo linguistic grammar or structure

25Ape LanguageKanziBonoboSue Savage-Rumbaugh was teaching Kanzis mother to use lexigramKanzi learned symbolsAble to answer novel questions

26How is language acquired?27Learning LanguageCritical PeriodsSkinners Verbal BehaviourChanges in language and verbal behaviour can result from reinforcement historiesLanguage Acquisition DevicePostulated brain organ for learning languageAn innate capacity to learn language28Vocal LearnersSeveral animals learn communication through exposure to parents/conspecificsHumans, bats, parrots, hummingbirds, songbirds, elephants, cetaceous whales and dolphins

Cross-fostered birds will learn songs of foster species

Physical interaction is important

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