Language: An Introduction by W. F. Bolton

LANGUAGE: AN INTRODUCTION BY W. F. BOLTON

The Importance of Language

  • Language is a distinctive human characteristic.

  • It is taken for granted, often overlooking its richness and complexity.

  • Language distinguishes humans from other species and is essential for specifying needs and desires.

  • Without language, communication would revert to grunts and gestures, leading to isolation from both past and future generations.

Communication in Other Species

  • Other animals communicate, but the question remains whether this constitutes language.

  • Examples include:

    • Dogs and cats: Effectively communicate needs to humans and peers.

    • Porpoises: Use complex sounds, but their language status remains unverified.

    • Chimpanzees: Have been taught sign language and computer languages, but their communication is debated regarding true language ability.

  • Human language has a scope and power that is unparalleled.

Origins of Language

  • Language likely evolved around 100,000 years ago.

  • The evolutionary hypothesis of language induction relates to the development of both the human brain and speech organs.

  • Children learn to talk at a specific developmental stage, independent of direct teaching.

  • Writing is a recent invention (around 5,000 years old) compared to the age of spoken language.

  • Majority of world languages have no writing system, with illiteracy being common.

Properties of Language

  • Productivity: Users can create and understand novel sentences.

    • Example: New expressions can be generated that haven’t been previously heard.

  • Arbitrariness: Words have no intrinsic connection to their meanings; different languages use different words for similar concepts.

    • Example: Numerals in English vs Chinese: one, two, three vs. yi, er, san.

  • Discreteness: Speech sounds are distinct and can be broken into meaningful units.

    • Analogy with music scales: Music has discrete notes rather than a continuous pitch.

  • Duality: Sounds represent meanings and can be understood in two forms (as sounds and as concepts).

    • Example: The word "one" represents the numeral 1, without embodying its essence.

Design Features by Charles Hockett

  • Hockett identified several features differentiating human language from animal communication:

    1. Discreteness

    2. Arbitrariness

    3. Duality

    4. Productivity

  • Additional features include:

    • Mode of Communication: Sound as the primary communication channel.

    • Specialization: Language acts are only for communication, differing from other animal sounds that may serve reflexive functions.

    • Cultural Transmission: Language is acquired through cultural exposure rather than genetic inheritance.

Physiology of Speech

  • Speech is a specialized form of exhalation; breathing differs during speech vs. rest.

  • Quiet Breathing: Rapid and shallow, mainly through the nose.

  • Speech Breathing: Pauses for phonation are taken with evolutionarily adaptive mechanisms in place.

    • Human bodies have evolved intricate adaptations for speech production, including neural systems and the anatomy of the speech organs.

  • Brain Areas Involved in Language:

    • Wernicke’s Area: Involved in language comprehension but not in speech production. Damage affects understanding.

    • Broca’s Area: Responsible for speech production. Damage leads to issues in naming and grammar.

    • The communication between these areas occurs via the arcuate fasciculus.

The Sound of Speech

  • Speech is a disturbance of air and can be characterized through:

    • Articulatory Phonetics: Speech sound production.

    • Acoustic Phonetics: Physical properties of speech sounds in the air.

    • Auditory Phonetics: How sound is received by the ear.

  • Vocal organs include:

    • Lungs: Provide airflow.

    • Larynx (Vocals Cords): Vibrates air, producing sound.

    • Pharynx & Nasal Cavity: Shape and direct airflow while allowing for nasal sounds.

    • Mouth (Tongue & Lips): Produce various consonant and vowel sounds through shaping airflow.

The Sensory System of Hearing

  • Hearing is the reverse of speech; it translates sound back into meaning.

  • Ear Structure:

    • Outer Ear: Collects sound.

    • Middle Ear: Amplifies sound through tiny bones.

    • Inner Ear: Converts motion to electrical impulses for auditory interpretation.

  • Bone Conduction: Provides feedback, allowing individuals to hear their own speech even amid noise.

Language and Culture

  • Language is species-specific to humans; all humans share the necessary neural, motor, and sensory equipment for language.

  • However, individual experiences and their mastery of these sounds vary based on cultural exposure.

  • Language complexities can mislead judgments about cultural sophistication.

  • Ethnocentricity: Viewing one’s own culture as central, often leading to misunderstanding or bias against others.

  • Cultural Relativism: Understanding that each language system has unique value and complexity based on cultural context.

FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW

  1. Explore the nature of productivity in language.

  2. Discuss the arbitrary nature of language and its implications.

  3. Examine duality and discreteness in language; try defining them.

  4. Evaluate additional design features of language discussed by Bolton.

  5. Summarize details on how physiology relates to speech functions being more than overlays.

  6. Differentiate between quiet and speech breathing based on personal experience.

  7. Explain the functions of the ear's outer, middle, and inner categories.

  8. Discuss why Bolton insists all languages are systematic and the implications of ethnocentricity.

  9. Analyze the stanza from "Jabberwocky" to identify structural understanding despite nonsense language.