GiangNguyen

Author: giangnguyen

  • What we use language for?

    1. Communicate ideas
    2. Think
    3. Show who we are, which group of human beings we blong or want to belong to

    Intended group:

    People without language:

    • Wolf children: children growing up without parents or language
    • Physical and psychological abuse

    E.g: Genie. be locked in a room from 20 months old to 13. No human interaction. Father: barked at her. Mother was not allowed to talk to her. => can’t figure out the system of combine all these work into definitely

    • People who lose their language:
    • Aphasia: the (partial) loss of language abilities due to brain damage

    Language is common to all human beings

     

  • Human Language

    Coursera

    ? What is language?

    3 dimensions:
    1. Descrete infinity: Language is infinite!

    descrete = limited = countable

    E.g: alphabet system. limited set. unlimited words.

    apes can’t do that. they can have some simple combination, but they can’t combine them to make more and more complicated system.

    2. Displacement

    In time

    In place

    Abstract notions

    E.g: Bees can communicate about space, because they can dance and wiggle and tell other bees where to find their honey. Can only talk about what they have really seen.

    3. Joint attention

    Human language expresses a share goals.

    Language is inherently cooperative

    Animals do have system of communication

    SUMMARY

    Human communication:

    • Infinite message with finite means
    • Talk about things not in here and now
    • Language is a fundamentally cooperative tool

    WE USE LANGUAGE:

    • To communicate ideas
    • To think
    • To show who we are, which group

  • Quotation

    Quotation1