PSY 352
Questions in Psycholinguistics
PSY 352: Cognitive Psychology
Humans can communicate with each other in ways that are unique to our species because
of the properties of human language. Regardless of how different human language may sound
across various culture they all share six qualities: The six properties of language, which are
arbitrariness, cultural transmission, discreteness, displacement, duality, and productivity.
Arbitrariness is when the words and symbols are used to denote objects are not inherently
related to the objects they symbolize, Cultural Transmission is when language is acquired
through culture such as when you grow up in a multilingual household you are more likely to
pick up the languages spoken, Discreteness when the sounds within the language are considered
their own, discrete sounds with their own distinct meanings, Displacement allows language users
to communicate about events or things that are absent from the current environment such as
when you describe what you did last week to your friend who is not with you, Duality is when at
one level of language there are discrete sounds, and at another, there are discrete meanings. You
can combine the letters g, o and d in two different ways: God and dog, and those two words
mean different things/sound differently even though they are comprised of the same three
sounds, and productivity the potential unique sentences/word combinations/sounds is infinite.
(Caritoaguirre, 2013)
If someone asked you what some of the differences between humans from other animals,
one of the main things that would probably come to mind is language. Language is so
fundamental to human life that it's hard to imagine what life would be like without it. In fact, the
original term for language referred to it as part of the body—language is derived from the Latin
word lingua, meaning tongue. Barnett highlights the inseparability of language from man when
, he says, “Verbal communication is a condition of the existence of human society.” But at the
same time, other animals also communicate: Your pets may let you know when they are hungry,
ants use pheromones and sound to indicate social status and distress, bees dance to tell one
another where to find honey, and chimpanzees can learn sign language. (Jose, 2012)
Some characteristics of human language is lacking in the communication of animals, this
shows a huge gap in evolution. Some scientists say we should try to reverse this logic: due to a
big defining caricaturist of human language is its ability to be flexible and be able to represent
and recombine concepts. Some of the precursors for many important concepts of language
should be sought in animals rather than animal communication. Animal communications are
typically only able to show expression of a small portion of the concepts that can be represented
and manipulated by that particular species. If a particular concept is not expressed in that species'
communications does not mean that it does not know the concept. Scientists have said if we
focus exclusively on communicative signals of animals, we can compare analysis of evolution of
language. Therefore, animal cognition provides a crucial (and often neglected) source of
evidence regarding the biology and evolution of human language. (Tecumseh, 2019)
Humans can communicate in multiple ways, we can speak, use emotions in our voice to
convey how we feel. We can learn new languages to communicate with others that we were
previously unable to speak with. Humans can adapt to the loss of language by using sign
language or being able to write. Some animals can learn new language as well. You can teach
your dog to sit and do tricks on command, we are not speaking the way dogs normally do but
they learn what it means. Other animals can learn to communicate with humans using other
methods.
Human language is very distinct from known ways of communication in animals, Human
language is compositional, we use subjects, verbs and objects. We also are able to recognize
present, future and past tenses. Human language has an endless ability to generate new
Questions in Psycholinguistics
PSY 352: Cognitive Psychology
Humans can communicate with each other in ways that are unique to our species because
of the properties of human language. Regardless of how different human language may sound
across various culture they all share six qualities: The six properties of language, which are
arbitrariness, cultural transmission, discreteness, displacement, duality, and productivity.
Arbitrariness is when the words and symbols are used to denote objects are not inherently
related to the objects they symbolize, Cultural Transmission is when language is acquired
through culture such as when you grow up in a multilingual household you are more likely to
pick up the languages spoken, Discreteness when the sounds within the language are considered
their own, discrete sounds with their own distinct meanings, Displacement allows language users
to communicate about events or things that are absent from the current environment such as
when you describe what you did last week to your friend who is not with you, Duality is when at
one level of language there are discrete sounds, and at another, there are discrete meanings. You
can combine the letters g, o and d in two different ways: God and dog, and those two words
mean different things/sound differently even though they are comprised of the same three
sounds, and productivity the potential unique sentences/word combinations/sounds is infinite.
(Caritoaguirre, 2013)
If someone asked you what some of the differences between humans from other animals,
one of the main things that would probably come to mind is language. Language is so
fundamental to human life that it's hard to imagine what life would be like without it. In fact, the
original term for language referred to it as part of the body—language is derived from the Latin
word lingua, meaning tongue. Barnett highlights the inseparability of language from man when
, he says, “Verbal communication is a condition of the existence of human society.” But at the
same time, other animals also communicate: Your pets may let you know when they are hungry,
ants use pheromones and sound to indicate social status and distress, bees dance to tell one
another where to find honey, and chimpanzees can learn sign language. (Jose, 2012)
Some characteristics of human language is lacking in the communication of animals, this
shows a huge gap in evolution. Some scientists say we should try to reverse this logic: due to a
big defining caricaturist of human language is its ability to be flexible and be able to represent
and recombine concepts. Some of the precursors for many important concepts of language
should be sought in animals rather than animal communication. Animal communications are
typically only able to show expression of a small portion of the concepts that can be represented
and manipulated by that particular species. If a particular concept is not expressed in that species'
communications does not mean that it does not know the concept. Scientists have said if we
focus exclusively on communicative signals of animals, we can compare analysis of evolution of
language. Therefore, animal cognition provides a crucial (and often neglected) source of
evidence regarding the biology and evolution of human language. (Tecumseh, 2019)
Humans can communicate in multiple ways, we can speak, use emotions in our voice to
convey how we feel. We can learn new languages to communicate with others that we were
previously unable to speak with. Humans can adapt to the loss of language by using sign
language or being able to write. Some animals can learn new language as well. You can teach
your dog to sit and do tricks on command, we are not speaking the way dogs normally do but
they learn what it means. Other animals can learn to communicate with humans using other
methods.
Human language is very distinct from known ways of communication in animals, Human
language is compositional, we use subjects, verbs and objects. We also are able to recognize
present, future and past tenses. Human language has an endless ability to generate new
