Ch. 2 Animals and Human Language – Flashcards
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Language is...
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-A means of communication -Composed of symbols -Shared among users
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Language Displacement
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-Allows us to discuss things that don't exist or what we've never seen before
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Language is Productive
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-Infinite number of messages (meaning) from basic elements (sounds) -Embedded clauses -Animal communication has a fixed reference
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Language Reflectivity
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-Used to think and talk about language itself
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Symbol Arbitrariness
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-No "natural connection: between words and their meaning
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Language Duality
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-Symbols can be broken down into smaller meaningless parts
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Language Cultural Transmission
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-Users learn language from other users
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Communication
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-Transfer/ exchange of information, conveying a message
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Language
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-Conventional, rule governed communication system (uniquely human)
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Speech
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-Human vocal communication
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Linguistics
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-Scientific study of language
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Linguists
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-People who study linguistics -Discover and describe the rules of language
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Human Language and Animals
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-Animals may demonstrate consistent responses to specific language models or commands, with training and reinforcement
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Gua
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-1930's -Could understand 100words but couldn't produce them -Raised with Kellogg's son Donald
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Viki
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-1940's -Unsuccessful training attempt -Chimp -Given speech therapy -Withheld food and water until appropriate "speech" approximation produced -Raised in a domestic setting by Hayes
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Sarah the Chimpanzee
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-1967 -Taught by the Premark couple -1 or 9 chimps in their lab -Srah and 3 others were the only ones exposed to language -Used plastic shapes to represent words, and sequence to form "sentences" -Treated like a chimp, kept in a cage -Ultimately... Premark's decided they no longer wanted to study chimps in 1987
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Lana the Chimpanzee
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-1971 -LANA= LANguage Analogue project -Dr. Duane Rumbaugh used a similar technique, but used a keyboard linked to a computer to teach artificial language Yerkish (lexigrams) -Lana could discriminate between Lexigrams (word sequencing, spontaneous utterances)
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Criticisms of Sara and Lana
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-Using the symbol for please, for example doesn't necessarily mean that the chimp understands the meaning of please
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Washoe the Chimpanzee
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-1967 -Gardner couple taught her to use nearly 350 manual signs of American Sign Language (ASL) - Raised like a child in a signing environment -Used more than 100 signs and some two-word combinations (productivity)
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Koko the Gorilla
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-Female gorilla born in 1971 at San Francisco zoo, studied by Penny Paterson (grad student) -Taught signs, modeled after Gardner's work with Washoe -Able to understand 1,000 signs, 2,000 spoken English words -Patterson believes Koko isa 'master' in ASL
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Nim Chimsky
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-1973 -Born in captivity, lived in Manhattan apt "like a human" -Project Nim led by Psychologist Herbert Terrace and aimed to show that chimps could learn human language (specifically syntax) -Opposed Noam Chomsky's theory: that humans are 'wired' to learn language -Extension of Project Washoe... Nim taught ASL signs
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Change in Mind..
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-1980 -Terrace changes his mind -Stated that is was a failure -Nim wasn't demonstrating real language use, simply being reinforced to repeat words with rewards -Word order inconsistent, expansions of utterances were no more meaningful, full or partial repetitions of adult utterances -Undermined validity of all ape-language studies.. tried to discredit Project Washoe
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Opposition to Terrace
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-Gardner's argued that Washoe would produce signs without being cued and in the absence of humans -Washoe has opportunities for natural, communicative operation.. unlike Nim -Patterson also argued with Terrace saying Koko's skills were founded
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Kenzi
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-Sue Savage- Rumbaugh unintentionally exposed baby Kanzi to symbols of Yorkist while attempting to teach them to the mother, Matata, a bonobo -Matata didn't do well, but Kanzi learned and used 250 symbols through observation and exposure rather than direct teaching
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Clever Hans Effect
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-Wilhelm Von Osten -Horse answered basic arithmetic and spelled out simple words with hoof stomps -Psychologist Oskar Pfungst investigated -Discovered the horse picked up on the unconscious body cues of its questioners
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Do Chimps use Language....?
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-Capable of integration with humans using a symbol system -They do not achieve linguistic competence beyond isolated words or two to three word combinations -Should we change our definition of criteria of "using language ".. or is language a skill specific to humans only?
