Module 30, Myers 8e Psychology

Language and Thought Module 30

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Thinking and Language Language  Language Structure  Language Development

Thinking & Language  Language Influences Thinking  Thinking in Images 2

Thinking and Language Animal Thinking and Language  Do Animals Think?  Do Animals Exhibit Language?  The Case of the Apes

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Language Our spoken, written, or gestured word, it is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves and others.

M. & E. Bernheim/ Woodfin Camp & Associates

Language transmits culture.

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Language Structure Phonemes: The smallest distinctive sound unit in a spoken language. For example: bat, has three phonemes b · a · t chat, has three phonemes ch · a · t

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Language Structure Morpheme: The smallest unit that carries meaning may be a word or a part of a word. For example: Milk = milk Pumpkin = pump . kin Unforgettable = un · for · get · table

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Structuring Language Phonemes

Basic sounds (about 40) … ea, sh.

Morphemes

Smallest meaningful units (100,000) … un, for.

Words

Meaningful units (290,500) … meat, pumpkin.

Phrase

Composed of two or more words (326,000) … meat eater.

Sentence

Composed of many words (infinite) … She opened the jewelry box. 7

Grammar A system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Grammar Semantics

Syntax

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Semantics Set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences. For example: Semantic rule tells us that adding –ed to the word laugh means that it happened in the past.

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Syntax The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences. For example:

In English syntactical rule is that adjectives come before nouns; white house. In Spanish it is reversed; casa blanca.

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Language Development Children learn their native languages much before learning to add 2+2. Time Life Pictures/ Getty Images

We learn on average (after age 1) 3,500 words a year, amassing 60,000 words by the time we graduate high school.

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When do we learn language? Babbling Stage: beginning at 4 months the infant spontaneously utters various sounds, like ahgoo. Babbling is not imitation of adult speech.

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When do we learn language? One-Word Stage: Beginning at or around the first birthday, a child starts to speak one-word and makes family adults understand him. The word doggy may mean look at the dog out there.

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When do we learn language? Two-Word Stage: Before the 2nd year a child starts to speak in two-word sentences. This form of speech is called telegraphic speech in which the child speaks like a telegram —“go car,” means that, I would like to go for a ride in the car.

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When do we learn language? Longer phrases: After telegraphic speech children start uttering longer phrases (Mommy get ball), with syntactical sense and by early elementary school they are enjoying humor. You never starve in the desert because of all the sand-which-is there.

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When do we learn language?

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Explaining Language Development •

Operant Learning: Skinner (1957, 1985) believed that language development can be explained on the basis of learning principles, such as association, imitation and reinforcement.

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Explaining Language Development 2. Inborn Universal Grammar: Chomsky (1959, 1987) opposed Skinners ideas and suggested that rate of language acquisition is so fast that it cannot be explained through learning principles, and thus most of it was inborn.

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Explaining Language Development 3. Statistical Learning and Critical periods: Well before our first birthday, our brains are discerning word breaks by statistically analyzing which syllables in hap-py-ba-by go together. These statistical analysis are learned during critical periods of child development.

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David Hume Kennerly/ Getty Images

Michael Newman/ Photo Edit, Inc.

Eye of Science/ Photo Researchers, Inc.

Genes, Brain & Language

Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience modifies the brain.

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Language & Age New language learning gets harder with age.

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Language & Thinking Thinking and language intricately intertwine.

Rubber Ball/ Almay

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Language influences Thinking Linguistic Determinism: Whorf’s (1956) suggested that language determines the way we think, e.g., Hopi, he noted, did not have past tense for verbs therefore Hopis could not think readily about the past.

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Language influences Thinking When a language provides words for objects or events we can think about these objects more clearly and retain them. It is easier to think about two colors with two different names (A) than colors with the same name (B) (Özgen, 2004).

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Word Power Increasing word power pays its dividends. It pays for speakers and deaf who learn a sign language.

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Linguistic Determinism Questioned People from Papua New Guinea without our words for colors and shapes still perceived them as we do (Rosch, 1974).

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Thinking in Images To a large extent thinking is language based. Like when alone we talk to ourselves. However, we also think in images.

We don’t think in words, when: 1. When we open the hot water tap. 2. When we are riding our bicycle. 27

Images and Brain Imagining a physical activity activates the same brain regions as when actually performing the activity.

Jean Duffy Decety, September 2003

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Language and Thinking Traffic runs both ways between thinking and language.

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Animals & Language Do animals have a language?

Honey bees communicate by dancing. The dance moves clearly indicate the direction of the nectar.

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Do animals think? Common cognitive skills in humans and apes. Concept formation. Insight Problem Solving Culture Mind?

William Munoz

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

African grey parrot sorts red blocks from green balls.

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Insight Chimpanzees show insightful behaviors when solving problems.

Sultan uses sticks to get food.

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Problem Solving

Courtesy of Jennifer Byrne, c/o Richard Byrne, Department of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Apes are famous for solving problems much like us.

Chimpanzee fishing for ants.

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Animal Culture Animals display custom and culture learnt and transmitted over generations. Michael Nichols/ National Geographic Society

Copyright Amanda K Coakes

Dolphins using sponges as forging tools.

Chimpanzee mother using and teaching a young how to use 34 a stone hammer.

Mental States Can animals infer mental states in themselves and others? To some extent. Chimps and orangutans (and dolphins) have used mirrors to inspect themselves if a researcher has put a paint spot on their face or bodies.

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Do Animals Exhibit Language? There is no doubt that animals communicate.

Copyright Baus/ Kreslowski

Vervet monkeys, whales and even honey bees communicate with members of their specie and other species. Rico (collie) has a 200-word vocabulary

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The Case of Apes Chimps do not have vocal apparatus for human-like speech (Hayes & Hayes,1951). Gardner and Gardner (1969) therefore used American Sign Language (ASL) to train Washoe (a chimp), who learnt 182 signs by age 32.

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Gestured Communication Animals show communication through gestures as do humans. It is possible that vocal speech developed from gestures during evolution.

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Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) has been instrumental in teaching a communication form to chimpanzees.

Paul Fusco/ Magnum Photos

When asked, chimpanzee uses a sign to say it is a baby

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Computer Assisted Language Others have shown that bonobo pygmy chimpanzees can learn even larger vocabularies and perhaps semantic nuances in learning language (SavageRumbaugh, 1991). Kanzi and Panbanish developed vocabulary for hundreds of words and phrases. Copyright of Great Ape Trust of Iowa

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Criticism 1. 2.

3. 4.

Apes gain their limited vocabularies with great deal of difficulty unlike children who develop vocabularies at amazing rates. Chimpanzees can make signs to get rewards, just as pigeon pecks at the key gets reward. But pigeon has not learnt a language. Chimpanzees use signs meaningfully but lack syntax. Presented with ambiguous information people tend to see what they want to see. 41

Conclusions If we say that animals can use meaningful sequences of signs to communicate means language, our understanding would be naive… Steven Pinker (1995) concludes, “chimps do not develop language.”

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