LINGUIST 1A03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Vocal Folds, Tnf Receptor Associated Factor, Linguistic Description

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Linguistics
• Course: LINGUIST 1A03
• Professor: Catherine Anderson

Document Summary

Notes from the modules, textbook, and study guide. Linguistics: the study of how language works (i. e. its use, acquisition, evolution, representation in the brain, etc. ) As indigenous peoples across the world lose their traditional cultures and homelands, their languages are endangered as a result: many languages have only 200 300 (or fewer) speakers. The bundle of nerves controlling the vocal cords is one of the body"s densest: the dual functions of speech organs: Move food to teeth and back into throat. Humans are specially equipped for perception of speech (e. g. newborns respond differently to human voices than to other types of sounds, and 6-month-old infants can perceive subtle differences among sounds in languages they"ve never heard before. Language is not just speech sounds and does not have to be oral, for example: sign languages, conveyed via gestures, body posture, facial expressions. Human [mental] grammar is generative (of sentences and words) Mental grammar is governed by systematic principles.