Principles of Linguistics

1
Principles of Linguistics

• CHAPTER 2
• The Brain, Language, and
• the Development of Language

Dr. Robert Schwab, 2006
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The Brain - Language Relationship

• The brain-language relationship involve two areas
  of study
• Neurolinguistics (neurobiology) concerned with
  the brain mechanisms that underlie acquisition
  and the use of human language
• Part 1,
  Chapter 2 (35)
• Psycholinguistics concerned with language
  performance, language acquisition, speech
  production and language comprehension
• Chapter 8 9, Part
  3 (311)

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Physiology

• The lateralized brain
• Cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus
  callosum
• Contralateral function, left controls the right
  side, right controls the left side
• Brocas area, left hemisphere, 3rd frontal
  convolution associated with language, speech
• Wernickes area, post-lateral to Brocas area,
  associated with lexical, comprehension problems
• 
  (36-39)

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Modularity

• distinctly separate divisions support different
  functions and use different sets of procedures
  for learning and storing, knowledge.
• distinctive learning mechanisms contribute to the
  learning of different aspects of language and
  that language knowledge is stored and accessed in
  distinctively different ways
  37-41

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Split-Brain Studies

• Epilepsy, Mirror focus discharge on one side
  of brain spread to other side, causing seizure
• Surgically split in patients with intractable
  epilepsy
• Can only name or describe what is seen by right
  eye, contralateral recognition only, no
  ipsilateral recognition
  (46-48)
• Modularity helps explain many language handicaps
• aphasia, language loss/disorders following brain
  damage
• acalodia, substitute one sound for another
  jargon aphia
• amelodia, inability to produce pitch rhythm,
  stress (38-43)

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The Critical Period

• a critical period for first language acquisition
  during which true native proficiency and
  development are possible, and after which
  language development shows little progress except
  in a few specific areas such as vocabulary
  learning.
• First language learners are 100 successful in
  acquiring language , even with no explicit
  instruction or knowledge of structure or rules
• Second language learners almost never acquire
  true native proficiency in a language even when
  provided with a first language environment,
  strong social support and extensive instruction
• 
  53-55

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Historical Evidence

• Victor 1799, France, 12-yearold boy with no
  previous human contact. After 5 years, developed
  social, memory judgment skills, but virtually
  no language skills (milk and oh God his
  nannys favorite saying)
• Genie 1970, California, 13 year-old girl, kept
  on closet with no language contact. Developed
  social skills, but limited language skills,
  similar to chimps attempting to learn language
  (53-55)

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Critical Period in Other Species?

• Birds appear to have a similar critical period
  for learning their distinctive songs
• If nor exposed to their natural distinctive songs
  as chicks, they are usually unable to learn or
  mimic them later as adults
• Other species, including dolphins and whales also
  exhibit this phenomena
• 
  (55-56)

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The Origin of Language

• Evolutionary Origins anthropological evidence
  from fossil and skeletal remains
• About 500,000 years ago
• Brain started to become lateralized, analytical
  and language processing on the left side
• Human teeth started to appear upright and of even
  height (f, v, th sounds)
• mouth became smaller allowing rapid movement
• Muscle development of tongue and lips (56-60)

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• The Birth of Neanderthal man
• Upright posture moved the head forward and the
  larynx lower, creating a large resonance chamber
  to produce sounds in
• This feature had serious practical disadvantages
  making it much easier to choke on food, but
  provided the primary mechanism for speech
• In particular, evolutionists believe this change
  represents the start of human language. This
  process is believed to have started about 500,000
  years ago and was fully establisher 250,000 years
  ago during the age of Neanderthal man
  (59-60)

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The Origin of Language

• Divine Origins based on the theological premise
  that language is a divine gift
• All cultures appear to support this belief
• The supernatural properties of words spells,
  incantations
• Humans throughout the world appear to have
  acquired language at almost precisely the same
  time historically, even though they had no
  contact with each other. Explaining this fact is
  a major problem for evolutionists.
• 
  (57-59)

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Language in Other Species?(Final Portion of
Chapter 1)

• Could other species possess the capability to use
  language?
• How could we determine if this ability actually
  exists in other species?
• What kind of communication process might we use
  to scientifically investigate the possibility of
  language in other species, given that their form
  of language, structure and cognition would likely
  be very different from our own?
  (60-61)

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Cross-Species Communication

• Humans are the only animal to possess a vocal
  tract capable of communicating in a language form
  as complex as ours
• Attempting to initiate cross-cultural language
  requires a language form that is based on
  non-verbal communication to allow two-way
  interaction

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Chimpanzees Washoe(From Chapter 8)

• Washoe, using a version of American sign
  language, is credited with a 100 word vocabulary
  
• Washoe was one off the first serious attempts to
  investigate the potential for human language in
  apes.
• Washoe demonstrated the ability to invent new
  words through compounding e.g. water bird for
  swan (a process similar to the development of
  many words from Old English) (353)

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Sarah, Lana Kanzi

• Sarah and Lana, using symbols and shapes to
  represent words and concepts, with 100 words
  (386)
• Kanzi, the baby chimp, using symbols, achieved
  250 words without explicit instruction
  (acquisition), Theoretically, a Kanzis lexical
  capacity was equivelant to a two or three year
  old child (355-56)

16
Koko

• Koko, a female lowland gorilla, developed a
  working vocabulary of over 500 signs and has
  demonstrated the use of over 400 more (speech
  vocabulary and recognition vocabulary)
• She has engaged in live internet chat sessions
  and appears to be able to use creative responses
  e.g. Koko, are you going to have a baby in the
  future? The answer yes, pink (pink
  associated with girl) (353)

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Nim Chimpsky

• The first scientifically designed and recorded
  study of language capacity in apes.
• Credited with learning 125 signs and syntactic
  discretion (consistently using the verb before
  the object), as well as applying signs in a new
  context.
• However, close analysis of video tapes of
  training sessions concluded that there was little
  evidence that Nim Chimpsky was actually using
  language (354)

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Learning vs. Behavioral Response

• All attempts to produce human-type language in
  chimps or apes have been discounted as
• Simple repetition of simpler structures, not an
  expansion into more complex structures
• Responses to signing or signaling by humans.
  (behaviorist stimulus-response)

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Other Animals Mammals

• Clever Hans, the mathematical horse, responding
  to subtle, unconscious visual clues from the
  handler (355)
• Honey Bees, 3 patterns, infinitely different
  possible messages, but subject specific food
  (24)
• Alex the parrot developed a vocabulary of 70
  words including nouns, verbs and adjectives
  (22-23)
• Woodpeckers have been trained to communicate
  their messages to humans through a modified form
  of Morse code by tapping with their beaks

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Cross-Species Language Research

• All of these experiments represent attempts to
  teach animals to use some form of human language
  and to communicate on human terms.
• This is an unnatural process which the animal is
  not biologically or socially designed for
• For example, they are held captive, usually
  confined to small, artificial quarters, severely
  limited or no social access to their own kind, or
  to a natural environment, unnatural schedules,
  etc.

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The Reality of Inter-Species Communication

• Most recent research is now focusing its
  investigation on the potential for non-human
  language.
• Do other species have the ability to communicate
  with language within their own biological, social
  and cultural environment?

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Language Capacity in Other Species

• ASPECT 1
• Based on the premise of evolution, could other
  species currently be in various stages of
  developing language as an evolutionary process?
• ASPECT 2
• Capacity for language is based on our human
  definition of language. Under a more liberal
  (less egocentric) view, could other species
  possess some degree of language capacity?

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Dolphins and Language? US Navy / UCLA / UH at
Manoa

• Dolphins respond to each other with matching
  signals, demonstrating vocal learning, (believed
  to be a critical step in the evolution of human
  language)
• Electronic instruments have determined dolphins
  regularly use more than 1700 separate whistle
  signals (words?) produced in at least 32 distinct
  patterns (sentence patterns?)

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• Young dolphins are assigned a unique signature
  whistle (a name) and they maintain it for life.
  Dolphins use these signature whistles to address
  and refer to specific members
• Dolphins live in highly social groups dominated
  by a leader. Group affiliation is so strong that
  isolation will cause ill health or even death.
  Strong social affiliation is seen as a
  prerequisite for language
• Brain size and brain activity level of dolphins
  and humans is similar (apes demonstrate a brain
  size and activity level about 1/3 of human
  capacity) and like humans, dolphin intelligence
  seems to increase with age

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Recent Dolphin Research

• The Scammons Lagoon experiments, demonstrating
  communication based planning
• The Lochheed experiments, demonstrating
  communication based collaborative planning
• The Lilly Experiments Dolphins performing
  communicative experiments on a human and applying
  the results in cross-species interaction

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• Dolphins display a sense of creative humor
• Dolphins display a strong sense of social
  development
• Dolphins have no prehensile extremities. Some
  scientists believe dolphin intelligence may
  simply have never developed in the direction of
  manipulating their environment.
• Could dolphins be as intelligent as us, except
  that their intelligence has just developed in
  another direction?

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The Ultimate Question

• Does language exist in non-human species?
• Is language an evolutionary process that is
  currently developing in other (non-human)
  species?
• What are the implications and responsibilities
  for us if we were to determine that other species
  had or were in the process of developing language?

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THE END Principles of Linguistics Chapter
2The Brain, Language, andthe Development of
language Languages and LinguisticsDr. Robert
Schwab, 2006