PSYC 2500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Steven Pinker, Mutual Exclusivity, Lev Vygotsky
11 Dec 2016
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In 1900, average adolescent vocabulary = 25,000 words; in 2016, = 10,000 words. Language: a conventional system of symbols representing concepts and rules of governing the symbols. Communication: the process of exchanging information between organisms. The time during which language develops readily and after which (sometime between age 5 and puberty) language acquisition is much more difficult and ultimately successful. Gua aised i(cid:374) a (cid:858)ho(cid:373)e(cid:859) setti(cid:374)g (cid:271)y the kelloggs. Human children will naturally acquire language unlike chimpanzees. Washoe learned american sign language, learned to sign equivalent words used by young children up to about 130 signs. Nim chimsky could(cid:374)(cid:859)t spo(cid:374)ta(cid:374)eously p(cid:396)odu(cid:272)e se(cid:374)te(cid:374)(cid:272)es, used sign language. Kanzi observational learning, some understanding of grammatical rules, spontaneous use, uses symbols to make sentences. Alex the parrot understands what questions mean, can communicate and describe objects. Generative infinite number of sentences that could be used in a language. Language users have the capacity to produce and comprehend all of those infinite possibilities.
