Language and Linguistics

Modified: 2024-01-02 1:17 PM CST

There are around 6,000 languages in the world today but many are disappearing quickly. The study of language predates cognitive science but it is now an important subject for cognitive scientists. Earlier, I noted how different academic disciplines that study the same subject often have trouble developing an interdisciplinary approach. Language is one of the poster children for that problem.

History

• Origins of language are unknown
• Merlin Donald called language "the most striking feature of the human mind"
• He wrote:
  • Languages are socially constructed systems of expression, generated interactively in social networks, which can be assimilated by the individual brain as it develops. Languages co-evolved with culture, reflecting the changing complexity of human culture as it acquired the properties of a distributed cognitive system. Two key preconditions set the stage for the evolution of such cultures: A general ability to rehearse and refine skills, and the emergence of material culture as an external memory record that could retain and accumulate knowledge across generations.

    • Donald, M. (2020). Key cognitive preconditions for the evolution of language. In T. B. Henley, M. J. Rossano, & E. P. Kardas (Eds.). Handbook of cognitive archeology: Psychology in prehistory. (pp. 287-295). New York: Routledge.

• He argued that social networks invent languages; isolated individuals did not
• Language, he says, requires two important developments
  • the ability to rehearse and refine skills
    • e.g., make tools, procedural memory (ride a bicycle)
  • the emergence of material culture
    • e.g., moving knowledge outside of the brain
• Language:
  • Requires social networks
  • Negotiation (i.e., What does "four" mean?)
    • Notice that the answer to your child to the question why four has the symbol "4" is: "Because."
      • The longer answer is: humans would not be able to communicate if they did not agree of things such as the meaning of the word "four." That's why we learn alphabets and numbers
  • Came after culture
  • Early humans had communicable skills before they created language
    • FYI: Before I do something that requires skill I usually look for a YouTube video
      • Replace fuel pump on old Chevy truck (I replaced mine in my old 1976 Chevy)
        • Turn the sound off. Could you still replace the pump successfully just by watching?
          • Probably yes, that's the point. (Language not necessary)
          • That's the truck below. I traded it for a 2016 Mustang convertible :-)
          • FYI, the old truck is still truckin' in Magnolia :-) Let me know if you see it.

  

  • Mimesis preceded language (video) of Merlin Donald
    • grief, power, celebration
    • conventionalized gestures, group displays and rituals, and proto-words
  • Develops, changes as a result of practice
  • Requires vocal motor skills (most likely selected for)
    • Donald and Gua (video, silent)
      • Most likely, such "research" could not be conducted today due to ethical constraints and rules
    • Viki: "mama, "papa", and "cup" (video)
  • Not a brain feature, but a "cognitive epiphenomenon
  • Other apes have been taught to communicate using symbols and the American sign language
    • (video)
    • Washoe (chimpanzee, used ASL, American sign language)
    • Koko (gorilla, used GSL, gorilla sign language)
    • Lana (chimpanzee, used lexigrams called Yerkish)
    • Kanzi (chimpanzee, used modified computer keyboard)

GENERAL PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE

Language has six properties that many psychologists accept as definitional. Language is:

• communicative
  • For example: "Your grade in this class will depend on your test performance."
  • Language can create an infinite number of messages.
• arbitrary
  • except for onomatopoeia (words such as: crash, bang, splash). Words that sound like the event they describe
  • So, there is no reason why the word "four" should mean what it does. English speakers are taught words like it and must accept their meaning. Otherwise, communication would be impossible.
    • speaking and writing are productive; listening and reading are receptive
• meaningfully structured
  • phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics (see below for explanations of each)
• productive
  • speaking and writing are productive, listening and reading are receptive
• dynamic
  • new words are created, old words disappear, think of slang (This is a crunk class.)
  • old words from Beowulf
    • see if you recognize any of the Old English words in Beowulf in the original
  • Modern English evolved from Old English but modern speakers cannot read or understand Old English

Parts of Language/Linguistics

• Phonology*
  • 100 phones or sounds possible
    • but no language uses them all
  • Phonemes are distinguishable sounds of a language
    • all languages have differents sets of phonemes, i.e., !
  • English phonemes tend to be vowels or consonants
  • Phonemics is the study of the phonemes found in the various languages
  • Phonetics is a written system for representing sounds (e.g., "Descartes")
    • FYI: I was at a Magnolia convenience store and I noticed the cashier was reading a thick book. I asked her what she was reading and she said Descartes. But, she pronounced it: DEZ CART TEES (not DAY CART). I did not correct her.
    • Similarly, we refer to El Dorado and Lafayette County in our own way: ELL- DO-RAY-DO and LA-FAY-YET
      • That helps locals tell who the newcomers are :-)
  • Video: notice the Spanish double R sound she mentions "carro" vs. "caro"
    • She discusses phonemes in general and at the end talks about the trilled R in Spanish
  • Spanish speakers learn to "roll" that double R sound (trilled R) (video)
  • French "u" vs "ou" (video with 10 examples)
    • the "u" is not used in English
  • Glottal stop (video)
    • In phonetics the glottal stop is indicated by a "!"
• Syntax*
  • How speakers put sentences together
    • word order syntaxes (like English)
      • in English, a noun phrase, verb phrase (or a predicate) are combined into sentences
    • word ending syntaxes (like German or Latin)
      • in German or Latin, words may be strung together in any order as long a the suffixes are correct
      • Esperanto
        • Notice that in Esperanto the words can be placed in any order as long as the word endings indicate subject and object. So, ""Fis" and "Vir" mean fish and man when used as subjects while "Fison" and "Viron" mean fish and man when used as objects.
      • In Latin, nouns are declined (meaning their word endings change) so:
        • puer means boy as subject
        • puerum means boy as subject
        • pueri mean boy's (belongs to the boy
        • puero mean by, with, or from the boy
• Semantics*
  • Context and Meaning
    • Shoe polish vs Polish pope: notice how the context changes the sound and the meaning
      • The context helps you decide
        • "The Polish pope was buried in a polished casket."
    • "The house blew it.: The gambling house erred when they allowed the limit to rise.
    • Old computer translation:
      • "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." was translated from English to Russian and then back to English as:
      • "The wine was agreeable but the meat had spoiled."
      • Notice how the words work but the context does not
    • Translations are much better now, see Google, for example
      • Not that long ago the prospect of computer translation was seen as a very difficult problem for CS
        
• Pragmatics*
  • Higher level of analysis
    • Concentrates on sociolinguistics, proxemics, and other elements of discourse (e.g., modifications to speech as a function of context).
      • Think of sales success
        • "Hello, would you like to buy an encyclopedia." vs. "Do you have children? Are you worried about their future? If you could change that for only pennies a day? ... (AKA, "the pitch")
        • "If you act today I can give you 33% off." (AKA, "the close")
        • Closing examples
      • Think of commercials (video: explains-using language, explaining language, and following rules)
        • Shows four Doritos commercials and explains the pragmatics involved
          • "The first major skill in pragmatic language is using language. Examples of this would be making a request versus a promise or taking turns when talking.
          • The second skill, changing language, could mean altering your words when not being understood or understanding someone’s body language or tone of voice.
          • Problems with these skills could result in not getting the joke when everyone else is laughing,
          • Not understanding when an adult changes their voice, not responding to greetings, taking things very literal, talking to an adult the same way they talk to friend, or difficulty with personal space, to name a few."
• Language Acquistion* (different from other types of learning)
  • The stages are: (video)
    • (1) prenatal responsivity to human voices,
    • (2) postnatal cooing,
    • (3) babbling,
    • (4) one-word utterances,
    • (5) two-word utterances,
    • (6) telegraphic speech,
    • (7) basic adult sentence structure (by age 4)
• Bilingualism* (video: how babies become bilingual)
  • Additive bilingualism
    • second language is learned alongside a strong original one
    • cognitive functioning is increased
  • Subtractive bilingualism
    • second language replaces the original one
    • cognitive function is decreased.
  • FYI: from the ages of about 3 to 13 I was raised in Spanish-English bilingual environments in Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, and Chile.
    • From 13 to 66 I was only exposed to English and only spoke or heard Spanish rarely.
    • Starting in 2015 SAU sent me to Cuba to initiate an exchange program with a Cuban university.
    • I visited Cuba six times for a total of about 42 days.
    • I noticed that my facility with Spanish, both oral and written, improved considerably.
    • Interestingly, since then I spontaneously think of Spanish words.
    • When Dr. Juping Wang and I were driving home at night after a trip to Havana we encountered we encountered a misty rain. Without thinking about it I said "llovizna" or the correct Spanish word for "drizzle."
    • On the other hand, I often have trouble producing a Spanish word. One example was the word for "monkey." I asked Dr. Wang and she said "mono" and I said "of course!"
    • Si quieren, podemos continuar la lección en español de ahora en adelante. Estan listos?
• Oxymorons
  • Pairs of words with contradictory meanings.
    • friendly fire: being killed by your own side still kills you (AKA-fratricide)
    • fresh frozen: frozen right away
    • live recording; it's still a recording
    • no comment: is a comment
    • this page left intentionally blank: one of my favorites, it's not blank
  • See: http://www.oxymorons.info/reference/oxymorons/definition.asp
  • Even though oxymora are contradictory, we still understand them

Reading and Writing* (both are newer and much newer and less common)

• Writing Systems
  • Types of Writing Systems:
    • Logographic
    • Syllabic
    • Alphabetic
      • English also uses logographic symbols: &, @, $, *, and many others
  • Writing systems around the world
    • Page goes into detail about writing systems
      • I will not test from this page, fyi
• Reading
  • Saccades--eye movements during reading (3-4/second)
  • Backward saccades slow reading
  • Video
    • Shows the complex skill of reading and how skilled readers move from word to word
• Perception in Reading
  • Eye-voice span--how much ahead eyes lead voice in oral reading
    • Cnsnts r mr mprtnt t cmprhnsn thn vwls.
      • You should have no trouble reading the voweless sentence above.
    • a ou ee y?
      • The consonantless sentence above is much harder ("Can you see why?" Is the sentence.)
  • English is Tough
    • This poem shows how hard reading English can be.
    • Here's a sample
      • Now I surely will not plague you
        With such words as plaque and ague.
        But be careful how you speak.
        Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
        Cloven, oven, how and low,
        Script, receipt, show, poem , and toe.
        • Now do you see how difficult English is to read?
        • See how many words you have trouble pronouncing correctly in that poem.
  • Direct lexical access
    • Do readers go straight from written word to its meaning? (Whole word)
      • Most readers do so eventually
  • Phonological reading
    • Do readers sound out words first? (Phonics)
      • Young readers sound out words syllable by syllable
        • "IMPROVISATIONAL" is a word young readers would likely sound out.
• Writing (think back to Comp I and Comp II)
  • Prewriting
    • Getting ready to write
      • know your audience
        • for most of your writing a professor will be the audience
      • break writing into smaller pieces
        • break that 10 page paper into its constituent parts
          • For example:
            • introduction
            • body
            • conclusion
  • Drafting (or Composing)
    • Actually writing thoughts down. How do you write your first draft?
      • pencil and paper
      • pen and paper
        • some prefer the feel of a pencil others the feel of a pen
        • FYI: I rarely use a pencil, even on crossword puzzles
      • typewriter
        • remember those?
        • BTW the original QWERTY key arrangement was designed to slow typists down so as to prevent the keys from tangling together
      • word processor
        • Most of us use WORD now. I loved WORDPERFECT back in the day but it is no longer made. I have finally become proficient at using MS Word.
      • Which word processor do you use?
  • Revising (or Editing)
    • Self editing. You should edit for:
      • meaning
      • style
      • grammar
      • spelling
        • BTW it is tough to edit yourself because you know what you intended to write. In my case when I ask someone to edit for me they invariably find typos
        • If you don't have a reader, try reading your paper backwards word for word.
    • Editing by others
      • social aspect of writing
        • Professional writers have editors
        • Editors for college students are faculty
      • give-and-take aspect of writing
        • between author and editor(s)
        • writers need to develop a tough skin to cope with editors's comments
        • don't cry when your editor does this to you:

    

  • Eats, Shoots, and Leaves
    • Lynne Truss' best selling book on grammar!
    • Cover
      • Notice how important a comma can be (see the cover)
      • Truss discovered the sentence:
        • "Gorillas eat, shoots, and leaves." In a journal article.
        • The sentence should have been:
          • Gorillas eat shoots and leaves.
        • So, don't let a gorilla near you, it might shoot you and leave the scene! :-)
• Gender and Language* (See Deborah Tannen and You just don't understand)
  • men
    • communicate information
      • wife says, "we're out of toilet paper."
      • husband say, "Yup. Yes we are."
      • She meant, "Go buy some more."
    • maintain status
      • in all kinds of social situations for men, the leader is usually the man who talks the most
    • talk about future action
      • "I think I'll go fishing tomorrow."
        
    • use language to solve problems
      • Big issue here, she says, "I can't stand my boss."
      • He says, "I'll call him up and set him straight."
        • Most women would say something like: "I've been there." \
        • Most women believe confrontation would not help.
          
    • fear loss of independence
      • Men more likely to make decisions on their own, without consultation
    • men talk more overall, but more in public
      • Have you had that experience in a classroom?
      • Men more likely to interrupt than women
    • more activity, less conversation
      • My wife once asked what we men talked about during our four-hour stints on the golf course. My response, "We talked about golf."
    • mansplaining
      • See chart in link above
  • women
    • talk to create and support relationships
      • Women interpret comments as support, men as threats to status.
      • Example: married couple had jobs in two cities.
      • Wife interpreted comments about the situation as supportive, husband interpreted same comments as criticisms
    • talk for its own sake
      • Women enjoy speaking for its own sake, for maintaining and strengthening relationships.
        • FYI: when taking my children to see grandparents one hour away we might only share a word or two.
        • But, when my wife took them she made them engage in conversation.
        • We each interpreted the lack of conversation differently.
    • establish intimacy
      • Women seek consensus with others via conversation and work out differences prior to making big decisions
    • seek emotional support through language
      • See the example above about problems with boss.
      • Usually, women are seeking to avoid linguistic confrontations.
    • women talk less, but more at home
      • Men talk more overall, but women talk more at home
    • less activity, more conversation
      • Language is less about passing along information and more about the building and support of personal relationships
  • Tannen's work suggests that males and females, although using the same words and phrases, may not be communicating with each other because of the differences in how they use and view language
  • Helpful advice (from me)
    • For men:
      • Do not try to solve her problems. Instead, empathize
    • For women:
      • Do not assume he understands more than the words you say. Tell him, "One of us needs to go to the store and buy some toilet paper."

* CS related

• Again, here are the parts of language and linguistics related to CS:
  • Phonology
  • Syntax
  • Semantics
  • Pragmatics
  • Language acquistion
  • Bilingualism
  • Reading and Writing (AKA "natural language processing"
  • Gender and language

Back to Main CS Page