LINGUISTICS 100
SEC - TFG PROF. ARWIN VIBAR
identify any of the other distinct
CHAPTER 2: ANIMALS & HUMAN properties of human language.
LANGUAGE
● Displacement - It allows language users
to talk about things not present in the
TOPIC OVERVIEW immediate environment. Displacement
allows us to talk about things and places
A. Animals & Human Language (e.g. angels, fairies, Santa Claus,
a. Communication Superman, heaven, hell) whose existence
b. Properties of Human Language we cannot even be sure of.
c. Talking to animals
d. Using Language
Additional Information
● Humans can refer to past and future
time unlike animals who have uniform
A1 COMMUNICATION
language.
● Except for Bees since if a honeybee
Communicative Signals finds a source of nectar and returns to
● Words, use of language and direct the beehive, it can perform a dance
● E.g. when you apply for a job, you say, routine to communicate to the other
“I’m one of the applicants for the vacant bees the location of this nectar.
position of senior brain surgeon at the Depending on the type of dance
hospital” (round dance for nearby and
tail-wagging dance for further away),
Informative Signals the other bees can work out where this
● Through actions, non-verbal cues newly discovered feast can be found
● E.g. when you have a cold, you sneeze (however, limited).
Additional Information ● Arbitrariness - It is generally the case
● Glossolalia means “speaking in that there is no “natural” connection
tongues” are outpourings that sound between a linguistic form and its
like language, but with no speaker meaning. The connection is quite
control it is not intentional arbitrary. This aspect of the relationship
communication. between words and objects is described
as arbitrariness.
A2 PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE
Additional Information
● For the majority of animal signals,
● Reflexivity - This property accounts for there does appear to be a clear
the fact that we can use language to connection between the conveyed
think and talk about language itself, message and the signal used to
making it one of the distinguishing convey it. This impression may be
features of human language. closely connected to the fact that, for
any animal, the set of signals used in
communication is finite. Each variety of
Additional Information
animal communication consists of a
● Indeed, without this general ability, we
limited set of vocal or gestural forms.
wouldn’t be able to reflect on or
Many of these forms are only used in
PAGE 1 Made By: Beatrice Catuiran
LINGUISTICS 100
SEC - TFG PROF. ARWIN VIBAR
physical level at which we produce
specific situations (to establish
individual sounds, like n, b and i. As
territory) or a particular time (to find a
individual sounds, none of these discrete
mate).
forms has any intrinsic meaning. In a
● Onomatopoeic words are NOT
combination such as bin, we have
arbitrary.
another level with a meaning that is
different from the meaning of the
● Cultural Transmission - This process combination in nib. So, at one level, we
whereby a language is passed on from have distinct sounds, and, at another
one generation to the next is described level, we have distinct meanings. This
as cultural transmission. It is clear that duality of levels is one of the most
humans are born with some kind of economical features of human language
predisposition to acquire language in a because, with a limited set of sounds, we
general sense. We acquire our first are capable of producing a very large
language as children in a culture. number of sound combinations (e.g.
words) that are distinct in meaning.
Additional Information
● The general pattern in animal Additional Information
communication is that creatures are ● Among other creatures, each
born with a set of specific signals that communicative signal appears to be a
are produced instinctively. Human single fixed form that cannot be
infants, growing up in isolation, broken down into separate parts.
produce no “instinctive” language. Although your dog may be able to
produce woof (“I’m happy to see you”),
● Productivity - Humans are continually it does not seem to do so on the basis
creating new expressions by of a distinct level of production
manipulating their linguistic resources to combining the separate elements.
describe new objects and situations. This
property is described as productivity (or
“creativity” or “open-endedness”) and
essentially means that the potential A3 TALKING TO ANIMALS
number of utterances in any human
language are infinite. ● The standard explanation is that the
animal produces a particular behavior in
Additional Information response to a sound stimulus, but does
● This lack of productivity in animal not actually “understand” what the noise
communication can be described in means.
terms of fixed reference. Each signal in ● It has become clear that non-human
the communication system of other primates do not actually have a
creatures seems to be fixed in terms of physically structured vocal tract that is
relating to a particular occasion or suitable for articulating the sounds used
purpose. in speech. Apes and gorillas can, like
chimpanzees, communicate with a wide
range of vocal calls, but they just can’t
● Duality - Human language is organized make human speech sounds.
at two levels simultaneously. This
property is called duality (or “double
articulation”). When we speak, we have a
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LINGUISTICS 100
SEC - TFG PROF. ARWIN VIBAR
A4 USING LANGUAGE
● In a broad sense, language serves as a
type of communication system in
different situations. In one situation, we
look at the behavior of a two-year-old
human child interacting with a caregiver
as an example of “using language.” In
another situation, we observe very similar
behavior from chimpanzees when they
are interacting with humans. It has to be
fair to say that, in both cases, we observe
the participants “using language.”
However, there is a difference.
● Underlying the two-year-old’s
communicative activity is the capacity to
develop a complex system of sounds and
structures, plus computational
procedures, that will allow the child to
produce extended discourse containing a
potentially infinite number of novel
utterances. No other creature has been
observed “using language” in this sense.
It is in this more comprehensive and
productive sense that we say that
language is uniquely human.
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