PSYC 358 Lecture 2: Psychology 358 Lecture 2 Animals and Language
11 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Although non-human species communicate, do primates have at least some of the criteria of human language (so defined by hocket). Starting point: depends on how we construe what language is! It is interesting to observe how other species cooperate, coordinate their efforts, convey information. Contributes to our understanding of the evolution of language. Betsy: 6-year-old border collie, 340 words . Rico: 9 year-old border collie, 200 words . Chomsky"s nativist perspective: language is unique to humans because linguistic structure maps onto the way the human brain works. The idea that animals might learn and use language if taught makes no biological sense. It"s like finding a fly who has wings but not has not thought of flying (until we teach it to). Hocket"s (1960) design features of language: creative/novel, open, productive. We can generate combinations of words we have never used before. Every language has a system of grammar: arbitrary.
