Batchelor in foreign languages with emphasis in English

Introduction to linguistics

Step 1 – Introduction to main terms

Student

Jannia Janeth solis García

Group

518017_23

Tutor

Viviana Andrea Ospina Giraldo

Universidad nacional Abierta y A Distancia

UNAD
 Introduction

In this activity i am going to answer the questions about nature of grammar, language and

linguistics and how it is processed acquired and computed by the Brain and the disciplines that help

to understand it called psycology and neurolinguistics and not confuse with the general

comprehention of language.
 Activities to Develop

1 Watch the video “Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain” By Steven Pinker
found in the Course Contents, UNIT 1, in the Knowledge Environment.
2 Once you have understood and internalized the contents, answer the following five questions:

2.1. WHEN PEOPLE WANT TO DEFINE LANGUAGE, COMMONLY, IT IS EASILY

CONFUSED WITH OTHER CONCEPTS SUCH AS GRAMMAR, WRITTEN LANGUAGE OR
THOUGHT; IN THE VIDEO, PROFESSOR PINKER TALKS ABOUT IT; PLEASE, EXPLAIN IN
YOUR WORDS, HOW OR WHY LANGUAGE IS NOT EXACTLY THOSE OTHER THINGS.
As Professor Steven Pinker says, language does not consist of a series of grammar rules, sounds and
thoughts. It is considered a miraculous gift (1:12 minutes). It is an intrinsic gift of human nature, it is
a science that has no end. it is not exactly the above mentioned because the topic is more complex in
terms of assembling the words with the grammar that also has to do the phonology that studies the
sound, the meaning of the words that comprise the semantics and the study of the use of language in
a conversation (3: 30min)

2.2. IN A VERY CONCISE FORM AND ACCORDING TO THE VIDEO, SAY WHAT
LANGUAGE IS.
language and writing are so important to humanity that they were the factors that separated Prehistory
from history. understanding this as that language would be not a window as Professor Steven Pinker
says in the video is rather a door to all the knowledge acquired from civilization in
civilization(0:29min)

2.3. ACCORDING TO THE VIDEO, PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT CONCEPT IS DEVELOPED

WITH THE FAMOUS NOAN CHOMSKY’S PHRASE “COLORLESS GREEN IDEAS SLEEP
FURIOUSLY”.
It means that not everything that is written logically and grammatically will have meaning(18:05
min)
2.4. WHAT IS THE BASIC EXPLANATION FOR THE FACT THAT A PERSON SPEAKS A
FOREIGN LANGUAGE WITH A SPECIFIC ACCENT?(34:17min)

This is thanks to the rules of phonology and occurs when people arrive at a place where a new
language is spoken and we adapt first by listening then repeating until we reach the perfection of this
new language.
Anatomically speaking our body is made up of organs in the cavity mouth that allow us to copy the
sounds through the Brain.

2.5. DESPITE COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS HAVE HAD CONSIDERABLE ADVANCES,

WHAT HAVE REPRESENTED SOME TYPICAL LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTIES IN
COMPUTERS TO PROCESS HUMAN LANGUAGE?
Computers only act thanks to the information that the human being injects through software so that
the machine does or does not do a specific thing and that is why they are not able to co-articulate
because there is not artificial intelligence yet .(40:38)

PERSONAL QUESTIONS:
3. Create three more questions and give their respective answers also based on the video.

1¿CHOMSKY SAYS WHY LANGUAGE DOES NOT DETERMINE THOUGHT?

It is a mistake to say that common language is to believe that language determines how you think
what needs to be taken into account is that a particular culture, behavior and language make cognitive
differences.
2 ¿ACCORDING TO CHOMSKY HOW CHILDREN ACQUIRE THEIR LANGUAGE FOR
THE FIRST TIME ( 24:22 min - 27:35min )
Children learn on the fly, they cannot learn a language simply from their own language they listen to
their parents' language by adjusting what they hear with their own understanding of the situation.
3 WHY DOES CHOMSKY SAYS THAT IF YOU KNOW THE LANGUAGE IT DOES NOT
MEAN THAT YOU ONLY HAVE AN INVENTORY OF WORDS OR CONSTRUCTIONS,
BUT THAT YOU HAVE A COMBINATORIAL ABILITY TO GENERATE AN INFINITE
NUMBER OF SENTENCES? (16:09 min)
He speaks that there is like a cognitive algorithm that we use without any effort to speak and
understand which is obtained in childhood in a surprising way.
 BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

[Big Think]. (2012, October 6). Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain
[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ONJIEcE

El lenguaje no determina el pensamiento letras libres:https://www.letraslibres.com/espana-

mexico/revista/el-lenguaje-no-determina-el-pensamiento