psycho linguistics presentation human animal

8/6/2019 Psycho Linguistics Presentation Human Animal

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Communication is a systemic process in which people interact

with and through symbols to create and interpret meaning.

(Julia Wood)

DEFINITION


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Most humans acquiring

language utilize speechsounds, made up of an

utterance act and

illocutionary act, to express

meanings, but such soundsare not necessary, which is

evident by the deaf's ability

to communicate through signlanguage (Fromkin et al.,

1997).


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Conversely, when animalsproduce noises to

communicate and vocally

imitate human utterances, it

is not the same as having

the ability to communicate

through language (Fromkin

et al., 1997).


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Speech and language is a human

possession.

(ThomasScavel, 1998)

Supported by

Language derives from innately specified

language ability in human beings

(Noam Chomsky)


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LANGUAGE IS STRICTLY

RESERVED FOR HUMAN.

DO YOU AGREE??


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Developed by Charles Hockett

A list of features all of which are present in

human speech

Some of the features are present in other

animal communication systems There are also other means of

communication: pheremones, performances.

DESIGNFEATURESOF

(SPEE

CH)COMMUNI

CATION

SYSTEMS


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Hockett's 13 Design Features of

Language

Vocal-Auditory Channel

Broadcast transmission and directional

reception

Rapid Fading (transitoriness

Interchangeability

Total Feedback

Specialization


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Semanticity

Arbitrariness

Discreteness

Displacement

Productivity

Traditional Transmission

Duality of patterning


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DID HUMAN LANGUAGEEVOLVE FROM

AN ANIMALCOMMUNICATION

SYSTEM?


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Animal communication is any behaviour on the

part of one animal that has an effect on thecurrent or future behaviour of another animal.

The best known forms of communication

involve the display of distinctive body parts, ordistinctive bodily movements; often these

occur in combination, so a distinctive

movement acts to reveal or emphasise a

distinctive body part.


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Functions of communication

agonistic interaction: everything to do with

contests and aggression between individuals.

courtship rituals: signals made by members ofone sex to attract or maintain the attention of

potential mate.

ownership/territorial: signals used to claim or

defend a territory, food, or a mate.


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food-related signals: many animals make"food calls" that attract a mate, or offspring,or members of a social group generally to a

food source. alarm calls: signals made in the presence of a

threat from a predator, allowing all membersof a social group (and often members of otherspecies) to run for cover, or gather into agroup to reduce the risk of attack.


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metacommunications: signals that modify the

meaning of subsequent signals. The best

known example is theplay face in dogs, which

signals that a subsequent aggressive signal is

part of a play fight rather than a serious

aggressive episode.


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Interpretation of animal

communication

researchers regularly seem to find that animal

communication is often more complex and

subtle than previously believed, and that the

same gesture may have multiple distinct

meanings depending on context and other

behaviours.


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Excitement

Anticipation

Playfulness

Contentment/enjoyment

Relaxation or anxiety

Questioning another animal or a human as to intentions

Reassurance ("I'm hoping to be friendly, are you?")

Brief acknowledgement ("I hear you", or "I'm aware and

responsive if you want my attention") Statement of interest ("I want that (food/toy/activity), if

you're willing")

Uncertainty/apprehension


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FINAL

THOUGHTLewontin, Richard.1998. The evolution

of cognition:

questions we willnever answer. In An

Invitation to

Cognitive Science.


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Human language

and animal

communicationSAME OR DIFFERENT?


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Some characteristics of human

linguistic communication

Innate criticalperiod

Arbitrarycompositional

Structuredrecursive

Infinitedisplacedreference

Flexiblecreative

Systems with ALL

these properties are

termed language inthe narrow sense

(FLN, Hauser,

Chomsky and Fitch

2002).


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QUESTION:

DO ANIMAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

SHOW THESE PROPERTIES?


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WHERE SHOULD WELOOK?

Social animals

Large brains (relative to body size)

Our close relations

Visible or audible modalities

Accessible environments

Not too aggressive!


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SOME BRAIN FACTS

Birds: small cerebral cortex

Chimps: enlarged plenum temporale in L

hemisphere, sometimes assumed to be

associated with language

Whale : 11 lbs

Human: 14oz at birth to 46oz max.

BUT: Brain available after managing body:

amount, relative to body size, increases in

vertebrates and culminates in humans


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THE PATH TO LANGUAGE?

Fitch (various);Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch

2002

Larnyx in nasal cavity in most animals

except during vocalizing, when it moves to

oral cavity

Same true for human infants, but around 3

months moves to throat


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SIZE ENHANCEMENTHYPOTHESIS

Formant structure of vocalizations correlates

with vocal tract length and body size

Signals body size; evolutionarily adaptive

Lowering the larynx makes one sound larger. All

mammals do this during calling

Happens to facilitate speech production.

Humans keep it permanently low

In humans, larnyx moves even lower when

males reach puberty


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OTHER PREREQUISITES

The ability to imitate: humans, parrots,

songbirds, dolphins, but not much at all in

non-human primates

Conceptual-intentional system: rich in

primates, parrots

Theory of mind: controversial for apes

Ability to compute transitional probabilities:

cotton-top tamarins (Hauser, Newport and

Aslin 2001)


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BUTTHEY SEEM TO LACK

Collaborative engagement (including non-verbal, such as

pointing) (Tomasello)

Can learn numbers (Matsuzawa 1985) , but do not generalize to

the next number. Each new number takes as long to learn as the

first.

Fail to learn long-distance dependencies (Fitch and Hauser

2004) such as AnBn. Finite-state ABn OK.

Recursion is distinctively human, FLN (Hauser Chomsky and

Fitch)But cf Gentner and Hulse 2005


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HOW DO THEY DO?Innate: YES critical period: YES

Arbitrary:YES compositional:NOStructured:YES recursive:NO

Infinite:NO displaced reference:?

Flexible:? creative:NO

In our present state of knowledge, no species

other than our own has a system with all these

properties.


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WHAT MAKES HUMAN THINKING SO

UNIQUE?

psycho linguistics presentation human animal

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