Download WHAT IS LANGAUGE? - University of Miskolc

WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
HUMAN AND ANIMAL
LANGUAGES
HUMAN AND ANIMAL LANGUAGES
The issue of continuity
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Are humans just a step further in practising an
adapted behaviour?
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What are the similarities and differences in human
and animal communication?
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Are they qualitative or quantitave?
- measurable?
- origin?
LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM
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Duality
Patterning
Structural dependence
„But I’m not so think as you drunk I am.”
(Sir J.C. Squire, writer)
How many possibilities are there
to order the following items in a
meaningful way?
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Boathouse vs. houseboat
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A, B, S, T
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I, walks, on, long, sometimes, go
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Tabs, bats, stab, ??sbat
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I sometimes go on long walks.
Sometimes, I go on long walks.
I go on long walks sometimes.
??On long walks, I go sometimes.
??Go I sometimes on long walks.
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Reflexiveness
"As modifiers of nouns, present and past participles of
verbs function very much like adjectives. Indeed, they
are sometimes regarded as adjectives when they
modify nouns.”
LANGUAGE AS A UNIQUE
HUMAN CAPACITY
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Genetically coded ability:
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Unique cognitive system
Unique vocal system
Wiring
LAD
Where is language in the
brain?
Signals
Why are vocal signals easier
to use?
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Work from a distance: sender and receiver do
not have to be close
Work in the dark
Receiver does not have to turn toward sender
Can be used simultaneously with other
activities
Focus on sound signals
Rapidly fading signal
- Special memory
- Bears
Total feedback
- Talking to yourself
Traditional transmission vs.
Genetically coded behaviour
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Birds
Species-specific behaviour
LANGUAGE AS
COMMUNICATION
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Interaction, negotiation of meaning
Function and intention
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Chimps and dolphins
Specialisation
Interchangeability

Peacocks
Displacement
Prevarification
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No
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Past
Future
Questions
Lies
LANGUAGE AS A SOCIAL
PRODUCT
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Bonding (phatic communication)
Expressing self, establishing status in
community (e.g. keeping a dialect)
Operating social ties and institutions
Recording and passing on info from
generation to generation (schooling,
literature)
Elisa
What determines the nature of
signals?

Higher position on the evolutionary scale?
- Of birds and chimpanzees

Social activity?
- Of cuckoos, bees and ancient hunters
Arbitrary symbols
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather
scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean –
neither more not less.” (L. Carroll: Alice in Wonderland)
Animals: signal
meaning
Humans: interpretation is based on consensus
Semanticity, openness

Can you guess the meaning of the following
words?
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Staycation
Credit crunch
Bossnapping
Unfriend
Tweetup
Jeggings
Snollygosters
What is language?
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Systematic and generative
A set of arbitrary symbols
Primarily verbal signals but also visual
Conventionalised meanings
Used for communication only
Operates in a speech community
Essentially human
Both language and language learning have
universal features