Language 2

Language 

System of symbols, sounds, meanings and rules of combination that allows humans to communicate 

Key properties of language 

1. Communicative 

2. Arbitrary 

3. Dynamic 

4. Meaningfully structured 

5. Multiplicitious in structure 

6. Productive 

Communicative 

Allows info, ideas and meaning to be shared 

Arbitrary 

No natural connection between a word and what it represents 

• Different languages use different labels for the same thing 

Dynamic 

Language changes over time 

Meaningfully structured 

Sounds and words are organised according to rules to create meaning 

Multiplicitous in structure 

• The same sentence can have different meanings 

• Different sentences can express the same meaning 

Productive 

A limited set of sounds, words and rules can be combined to create many new expressions 

Elements of Language 

Syntax 

Rules for organising words into phrases and sentences 

Surface structure 

Actual order/form of words in a sentence 

Deep structure 

Underlying meaning of the sentence 

Semantics 

Rules about meaning 

How language is understood 

• Identify speech sounds and words 

• Work out the grammatical relationships - who did what to whom 

• Integrate the sentence with a real-world schema using extralinguistic info (context outside the language itself) 

Process of language acquisition 

Telegraphic speech 

Short, simplified speech containing mainly essential words 

• E.g. “more drink” or “allgone sock” 

• Order follows the child’s native language - emerging knowledge of language structure 

Language acquisition views 

Skinner: nurture 

Children imitate speech produced by parents and others 

• Correct or increasingly accurate speech can be reinforced 

• Shaping means reinforcing closer approximations to the desired speech behaviour 

Chomsky: nature 

Children acquire language too quickly for imitation and reinforcement alone to explain it 

• Proposed an innate LAD: neural structures that support language acquisition 

• Proposed Universal Grammar: an inborn basis for acquiring grammatical rules 

Critical period 

New-language learning becomes harder with age 

• Supporting the idea that age is important in language acquisition 

Framing 

The way a situation is presented changes our thinking/behaviour 

• People tend to avoid risks when seeking gains but choose risks to avoid sure losses 

Decision-making errors 

• Schemas 

• Confirmation bias 

• Overconfidence 

• Heuristics 

• Prone to illusions of causation and correlation 

Doublespeak 

Ambiguous language intended to hide the true meaning of a message 

Doublespeak - forms

• Euphemisms 

• Jargon 

• Gobbledygook 

• Inflated language