PSYC20007 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Signify, Anne Sullivan, Paralanguage
10 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 10
- Our species, Homo Sapiens, which translates, rather immodestly, as wise, rational, or
knowing (hu)man, is defined by our cognitive abilities. We think differently from other
animals and we share our thoughts with each other in ways that no other species does. Our
mental world is full of abstractions, hypotheses, plans, reminiscences. This relies on our
capacity for symbolic thought – e ae the soli speies Deao, 997. “ee the
hapte fo Deao “ols ae't siple i the eoeded eadigs for this lecture
(from his book The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the brain). In using
the te soli-speies, Deao is efeig to the hua ogitie apait fo astat
representational conceptual processes and language. Symbolic cognition enables a shift
from perceptual representations of the here and now towards the imagined, hypothetical,
and represented. Symbolic representation is defined by the embedding of symbols within a
set of relationships that define a larger matrix of learned associations and meanings. The
aim of this lecture is to define symbolic reference in relation to other more basic forms of
reference and to understand the processes involved in learning to use a symbolic system.
- The images on the title slide are photographs I took in 2012 on a trip to Arnhem Land in
Austalias Top Ed – the images come from a site known as Injalak Hill and date back at
least 20,000 years. I have chosen the images as a way to illustrate the distinctions we will be
making in todas letue etee diffeet fos of phsial sigs that a e used to
represent and communicate meaning. The images are examples pictograms, which convey
their meaning through their pictorial resemblance to a physical object. We will refer to such
sigs fos of efeee as ioi i the letue toda.
-
- What does it ea to hae a ae, hats the elatioship etee the ojet ad
the name, what powers do i get when i know how to name things
- The image shows Helen Keller as a child, with her teacher Anne Sullivan. At 19 months of
age, Helen Keller became ill (Meningitis?) and was left deaf and blind. She later learned
language via finger-spelling of words onto her hand. The extract from her life story tells of
the moment she first realised the link between the words being spelled onto her hands and
thei eaigs. This lead to a desie to ko the aes fo all thigs ous ithi a
symbol system), and so began her ability to think and communicate with language.
- Pair finger spelling with things, signs with names, names with things
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
-
- Seyfarth, et al (1980) reported that Vervet monkeys make three distinct calls to alert fellow
troop members to the presence of specific predators in the environment. Each call is
acoustically distinct, and each results in a distinct (i.e., predator specific) behavioural
response. Are these calls the equivalent of words in a language? If not, why not?
- While much emphasis has been placed on the second component of this definition (syntax),
this lecture focuses on the fundamental element of symbolic reference. What does it mean
to really understand the meaning of a word?
- The Vervet Monkey alarm calls discussed earlier occur only in the presence of the stimulus
that elicits them. The eagle call indicates the presence of an eagle, rather than representing
a more abstract semantic concept of eagle that can be used in different contexts or in the
absence of an eagle. The call signals a particular action to be taken. Laughter, facial
expressions, tone of voice (prosody) and gestures all provide paralinguistic cues to meaning.
They are more similar to the alarm calls of other animals than to language – yet language is
surely built on their foundations. Recall my first lecture about grounding symbolic systems in
lower (i.e., more fundamental) levels of reference.
- Conclusion: felt alarm calls had a form of semantic reference that they thought was akin to
laguages ad as potetiall a poto-laguage [peuso to full lo hua laguages]
- What is language?
- Definition: Deao 997: Laguage is a ode of ouiatio ased o soli
reference involving combinatorial rules that comprise a system for representing logical
elatioships aog these sols
- Combinatorial rules = syntax = a set of rules that define the order in which words are used in
order to convey relationships among symbols
- Symbols refer to concepts
- When using words, stringing together sounds in particular order that allows someone to
understand whom, what, when, how, where [relationship between things]
- Languages consist of two core components: word meaning [symbolic reference], syntax
[rules for combining words into sentences]
- Words are about things, they have meaning
- A (spoken) word is an association between a co-occurring sequence of speech sounds and an
object, or an idea, that the word refers to
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Seems to be a simple matter of associative learning
- But symbolic reference is not simple
- What makes symbolic reference different from non-symbolic forms of reference? [e.g.
laughter, facial expressions, gestures, alarm calls]
- Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) was an American philosopher and logician who, among
other things, pioneered the study of semiotics - the study of systems of signs. He
distinguished between three modes of reference whereby a sign refers to something that it
signifies.
- Peies thee odes of efeee:
- ‘efeee: The eas hih oe thig a sig igs to id aothe thig the
signified), [iconic, indexical, symbolic]
- These three modes of reference are defined by the nature of the relationship between the
sign and that which is signified
-
- Iconic reference is based on a physical similarity (resemblance) between the sign and what it
signifies
- A portrait or landscape painting relies on the physical similarity between the painting and
that which is represented
- Pantomime relies on similarity between actions and object/situation being portrayed.
- Onomatopoeia in spoken language relies on a iconic resemblance between the sound of the
word and its referent
- Iconic reference forms the basis fo eogitio eo. We e-ogise he e
perceive the similarity between an object and a previous experience with it, or with
something similar. Iconic reference forms the basis for perceptually coded mental
representations (mental imagery).
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Our species, homo sapiens, which translates, rather immodestly, as wise, rational, or knowing (hu)man, is defined by our cognitive abilities. We think differently from other animals and we share our thoughts with each other in ways that no other species does. Our mental world is full of abstractions, hypotheses, plans, reminiscences. This relies on our capacity for symbolic thought (cid:449)e a(cid:396)e the (cid:858)s(cid:455)(cid:373)(cid:271)oli(cid:272) spe(cid:272)ies(cid:859) (cid:894)dea(cid:272)o(cid:374), (cid:1005)997(cid:895). Ee the (cid:272)hapte(cid:396) f(cid:396)o(cid:373) dea(cid:272)o(cid:374) (cid:862) (cid:455)(cid:373)(cid:271)ols a(cid:396)e(cid:374)"t si(cid:373)ple(cid:863) i(cid:374) the (cid:396)e(cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)e(cid:374)ded (cid:396)eadi(cid:374)gs for this lecture (from his book the symbolic species: the co-evolution of language and the brain). In using the te(cid:396)(cid:373) (cid:858)s(cid:455)(cid:373)(cid:271)oli(cid:272)-spe(cid:272)ies(cid:859), dea(cid:272)o(cid:374) is (cid:396)efe(cid:396)(cid:396)i(cid:374)g to the hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) (cid:272)og(cid:374)iti(cid:448)e (cid:272)apa(cid:272)it(cid:455) fo(cid:396) a(cid:271)st(cid:396)a(cid:272)t representational conceptual processes and language. Symbolic cognition enables a shift from perceptual representations of the here and now towards the imagined, hypothetical, and represented. Symbolic representation is defined by the embedding of symbols within a set of relationships that define a larger matrix of learned associations and meanings.
