Langauge

Course
 Chapter
Two

The Study of Language- George Yule

Animal and Human language

4th Semester
Mr. Abdullah Aljhani
 Introduction
There are a lot of stories about
animals that can talk

We usually assume that they are

fantasy or fiction

Yet we think that they are capable

of communicating with other
members of their own species

Each signal is fixed as relating to

one particular object or occasion, no
new references are created
Is it possible that a creature could learn to
communicate with humans using language?

Does human language have properties that make it so

unique or quite unlike any other?

Is human communication system unlearnable by any

other creatures?
 Communication
Not distinguishing feature !

Types of Signals
Communicative Informative
signals signals
Behavior used intentionally to provide Behavior that provides information, usually
information unintentional

e.g. when you say something, communicate e.g. a sneeze, shifting around in seat
 Properties of Human Language

01 02 03
Reflexivity Arbitrariness Cultural transmission

04 05 06
Displacement Productivity Duality
 01
Reflexivity
A special property of human language
The ability to think and speak about
language, using language itself
e.g. “I wish he wouldn’t use so many
technical terms”.
 02
Arbitrariness
A property of language describing the
fact that there is no natural connection
between a linguistic form and its
meaning
e.g. you can write 'big' in small letters
and 'small' in big letters
 03
Cultural transmission
Language is passed from one generation to
the next
A language is acquired with other speakers,
not through genetic transmission
We are not born with the ability to produce
utterances in a specific language such as
English
 04
Displacement
A property of language that allows human
to talk about things and events not present
in the immediate environment (past and
future)
Ability to speak about unreal, absent, or
non-current events
 05
Productivity
Also called "creativity“
A property of language that allows human
to create new expressions
It means that the potential number of
utterances in any human language is
infinite, no limit
 06
Duality
Also called "double articulation“
A property of language whereby linguistic
forms have two simultaneous levels of sound
production and meaning
We can produce individual sounds, like n, b. i,
etc. Then we can combine these sounds in
particular manner to produce pin, which has
meaning.
 Chimpanzees and
human speech sounds !
Attempts were to teach a chimpanzee to use a human language:
‘Gua’
‘Viki’
Washoe
Sarah
Lana
In 1940, another scientist couple,
Catherine and Keith Hayes, reared a
chimpanzee ‘Viki’ to say English
words. In five years, Viki managed
to produce poorly articulated words
like mama, papa and cup.
This is evident that not only human
beings have a physically structured
vocal tract.
A chimpanzee, Sarah was also being
taught by Ann and David Premack to
use a set of plastic shapes to
communicate with humans.
Sarah was trained to associate
shapes with objects or actions and
rewarded with food.
Sarah demonstrated an ability to use
word symbols without understanding
the meaning of the English word.
Conclusion
Arbitrariness, Productivity, Displacement, etc. make human language a unique
communication system quite different from the communication systems of other
creatures

Many critical studies of animal learning argue that chimpanzees’ behavior is

viewed as a type of conditioned response to cues provided by human trainers.

Herbert’s conclusion was that chimpanzees are clever creatures who learn to
produce a certain type of behavior in order to get rewards

Chimpanzees were capable of taking part in interaction with humans by using a

symbol system chosen by humans and not chimpanzees

Chimpanzees did not go on to perform linguistically on a level comparable to a

human child about to begin pre-school

No other creature has been observed “using language” language is uniquely

human
 Thanks!
Do you have any questions?

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