Language Universals

The Mind-Brain Debate• Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1973)• mind is "the seat of consciousness, thoughts,

volitions, and feelings", or "memory", • brain is "taken as the seat of sensation, the

organ of thought, memory, or imagination”• mental - "concerned with the phenomena of

mind"• physical is "of or pertaining to material nature;

pertaining to or connected with matter; material; opp(osite) to psychical, mental, spiritual".

Define

• Mind• Brain• Psyche• Spirit• Soul• Monism v dualism

Emotion

• Sensation• Emotion• S.O.E.D• Emotion is "a mental feeling or affection (e.g.

of pain, desire, hope, etc.) as dist(inct) from cognitions or volitions"

Define

• Consciousness• Thoughts• Volitions• Feelings• Memory• Imagination

Dualism

• Plato – body and soul and brain as seat of the soul

• Descartes’ dualism– the body is an automaton– the mind has free will - outside the realm of

scientific explanation– the non-material mind functions through the

pineal gland in the brain, and controls the natural animal instincts of the automaton-like body.

Materialism & Monism

• Ryle (1949) negation of the "ghost in the machine", a soul or mind controlling the automaton of the body

• Philosophical vindication of the scientific approach to psychology by the Behaviourists.

• The brain was a physical organ, part of the body, and the subject of physically-based analysis.

• Any notion of Mind - Bunge (1977) - is thus "unexplainable by science".

Animals v. humans

• Evolution• Animals >> humans• Human intelligence • = different?• = product of evolution?

Animal communication

• Konrad Lorenz (1930-50s) – geese and ducks• Frisch (1967) - 'language' of the bees • Animal communication seems to evolve in the

interests of survival of the species• Genetic imprinting probably mutates to keep

pace with changing needs• Maynard Smith (1976) & Krebs (1987) show

how animal signals evolve and become ritualized

Primate communication

• Jane Goodall - chimpanzees• Dian Hussey - gorillas• Experiments to train chimpanzees to use:• American Sign Language• Other symbol systems, for communication

with the human experimenters

Innate v. acquired communication

• Plato and others believed that knowledge - or capacity for knowledge is innate

• Aristotle – Locke - Behaviourism – all knowledge acquired – ‘tabula rasa’

‘Original language’

• Crystal (1971: 46-7) - examples of people who tried to discover which language children would speak spontaneously – Phrygian, in the case of Psammetichus - 7th

century B.C.– Inconclusive, the children died, with Frederick II of

Hohenstaufen - 13th century; – Hebrew, with James IV of Scotland - 15th century.

Innate concepts / language

• Sacks (1989) – ‘Seeing voices’• 18th century - Abbé de L'Epée • The sign language used by the deaf in Paris • Importance of deaf sign language• Pidgins & Creoles

‘Wild children’

• Kaspar Hauser 1828• Genie 1970• Several others over history

Innate language structure

• Chomsky• Pinker• Ideas that humans are born with a ‘grammar’

hardwired into our brains• Syntax?• Semantics?• Ideas?

Meaning

• Chomsky > followers – syntax all important• Cognitivists – Langacker, Jackendoff –

meaning in syntax + lexicon • E.g tendency for all languages to see

happiness as ‘up’ and sadness as ‘down’• Lakoff – meaning in metaphors • E.g- football and fighting. Love as a journey

The brain and language

• Brain – Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas > language areas

• Damásio – research into brain damage and language

• Damásio - ‘Descartes’ Error’• The importance of Emotion

Are we genetically pre-disposed to

• Have emotions?• Be good or bad?• Believe in God?• Be selfish?• Be altruistic?• Live in society?

Exercises

• Discuss and suggest universals – Human environment– Human behaviour– Human communication – gestures– Human language

• Search for information on Cognition