Sunday, 26 February 2012
Thursday, 23 February 2012
How Children Acquire and Prodcue Language, so interesting! Have a look when you have some time to spare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=2i1z37nYMrM&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=2i1z37nYMrM&NR=1
How do humans learn language?
How do humans learn
language?
-When do we start
learning language?There are numerous theories on how humans can learn a language, there is a theory that it just comes natural to us and that we are able to produce speech without even hearing it, however, it may not be fluent. Scientists wish to test this theory called: “The Forbidden Experiment”, however, cannot be proven because of the harms it has to a child because it is a breach of Human Rights, it’s unethical. Another theory is that while a woman is pregnant with her child, that the language that is used around the woman is also heard by the baby, this is one of the most common theories that linguistics share around the world.
Children respond better to their parents; this is why this theory is strongly shared, children slowly mimic what words their parents say, even the words that a child shouldn’t know. A theory that Christian’s strongly believe in is that a baby is born with a special gift from God and they are able to develop a language quickly before they mature to the age of a teenager or adult. It has been proven that a child can learn a language quicker than what the rest of the human race can; this is why many parents decide to get their child to speak other languages when they are young. But this theory cannot be proven as we don’t know where or who God is.
The age of when a child learns language varies between child to child but the average age of when a child begins to start making sounds that slightly indicate words such as “ball” a bit before the twelve month age mark. Some children are slow learners when it comes to language, while others are extremely fast. Which can be linked back to that child do learn languages naturally.
However, speaking to the child and trying to teach words to them can increase the child’s chance to construct a proper sentence shortly after this time. Most children are able to understand simple instructions set by their parents when they are 12-15 months of age. For example: “Hold my hand.” Obviously a child can understand the simple rules of language at a very young age.
If a child is having difficulties in speaking and haven’t spoken much by the average ages of their peers, then most parents are urged to see if it’s something else, the child could be deaf or have a speech difficulty. If this is so, then the child will need the assistance of a speech pathologist. In America, by the 1st grade 5 per cent of children have a recognised speech disorder which can be simply treated with speech therapy. This is made up when a child reaches the age of 5; they will know a minimum of 5000 words.
The reason why children cannot produce sounds until they are about twelve months old is because their voice box is far too high, they can babble but it is impossible to be able to create the sounds need to produce words. As a child ages, their voice box slowly drops further down their oesophagus.
Weblinks to sources:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/speechandcommunicationdisorders.html
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/not_talk.html
http://iteslj.org/Articles/McGlothlin-ChildLearn.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=2i1z37nYMrM&NR=1
http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/language_development.shtml
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/speechandcommunicationdisorders.html
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/not_talk.html
http://iteslj.org/Articles/McGlothlin-ChildLearn.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=2i1z37nYMrM&NR=1
http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/language_development.shtml
Accents
This is just a short video of 21 accents from around the world. It demonstrates that even English can differ vastly in the way it is pronounced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Phonology Youtube Clip
Below is a link to a clip from the TV show NCIS. In posting it on the blog I was hoping to show how one of the characters in the show who speaks English as a second language finds some of the sounds in some of the words in our commonly used idioms/sayings confusing.
http://youtu.be/dyd9-8ZYsIA
Although you will find that not all of the idioms she is getting wrong are because of the sounds of words, sometimes it is just the word itself she is getting wrong.
An example that I took away from this clip where she did get the sound wrong was when she tried to use the idiom 'Drop it' instead she says 'Drip it.'
http://youtu.be/dyd9-8ZYsIA
Although you will find that not all of the idioms she is getting wrong are because of the sounds of words, sometimes it is just the word itself she is getting wrong.
An example that I took away from this clip where she did get the sound wrong was when she tried to use the idiom 'Drop it' instead she says 'Drip it.'
The relation to culture from language.
Although many people believe that you have to speak a language
to understand the way that it develops and grows over time with the ways that
the community develops. You don’t have to speak a language to pick up on the
basics. Over time the culture grows effecting how modest people are and how
they act towards different situations, the way that the culture changes also
will change the language with the way that we would speak, for example how
formal or informal our speaking will become.
The culture of different countries will affect the way we
act, so for example, in Italy the Italian culture is very warm and inviting and
the country very much reflects the culture in how it is very inviting. If you
live in Italy, it does not mean your Italian or speak Italian, but over time
you would pick up on some of the language to get by and communicate with the people
who has grown up there. Gradually over time you would pick up ion the basic
elements of the culture, from little things like how much eye contact, how loud
to talk and what things to highlight when talking.
Different languages use different parts of their language to
express something, depending on their beliefs, values, expectations, and
rituals, so this would affect what the culture of a language would be focused
on. Some languages would focus on what you are doing, yet other languages would
focus on the way you are doing something.
Composed By Alysha
Bibliography
Wiki answers
http://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/lazear/personal/PDFs/culture%20and%20language.pdf
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Monday, 20 February 2012
Could you teach a computer to communicate like a human?
The
hunt for computer sentience has been in progress for a long time. The first
attempt at making an A.I (artificial Intelligence) was in the 1950’s. Since
then, A.I’s have been well integrated into our daily lives.
Video games make a good example of a ‘fake’
A.I. Many if not all games in modern times make use of an artificial
intelligence, which control many of the objects and beings in the game world.
These are merely programs, however, and have no intelligence beyond the coding
entered by the programmer These A.Is are much more ‘skilled’ in games due to
human error and the speed with which it can execute actions. Take the Automaton 2000 for example: This is an
A.I made for the video game StarCraft II.
To put it into perspective, an average RTS (Real Time Strategy) player will
play at between 20 and 70 actions per minute. (APM) Professional StarCraft
gamers will play at the speed of about 300 APM but, the Automaton 2000
plays can play at 15,000 APM!
However,
that isn’t entirely what this article is about.
First,
we must first identify what it means
to communicate like a human. Thus, I shall introduce a list:
-
Language/Grammar
-
Tone
-
Emotion
-
Recognition
I
mention this because a current computer can “talk” or communicate to you
through messages on the screen. (Although it only knows you as “user name”) it
cannot, however, humanely react to you in any way when speech is involved. For
a computer to communicate like a human it must use language and tone
appropriate to the situational context, as well as recognise the emotions of
who it’s communicating with.
In
order to teach a computer how to communicate in such a complex manner, it would
take an even more complex program, a program that can teach it to recognise
that you are having a bad day (making use of a webcam of course) and responding
in the appropriate manner. On the subject of response, the program would have
to teach it to recognise the situational context and what language would be
appropriate. For example, if a ‘user’ had just lost a friend then it would be
inappropriate for the computer to bring the subject up.
So,
a program such as this would not only have to teach the computer each and every
word in whatever language was in use at the location, but how the words relate to
each other. It would also require some sort of coding that would make the
computer put the words together on its own. Finally, the program would include
coding emotion into the machine.
If
a computer reached such a stage, it would probably be capable of doing many
other things. When things get like that, I feel that hum
ans
wouldn’t be very happy with so many computers doing their own thing. While I
think that a robot rebellion is a bit far-fetched, I do feel that computers
shouldn’t be integrated into our lives to such a degree.
So,
it will probably be possible to teach a computer to communicate like a human in
the future. Whether that’s a good idea is a different story.
Humans Learning Language
How
do humans learn language?
Humans start learning language from when they are first
born, even before they were at birth they listen to their mothers when they are
in their wombs. Babies start developing language when they interact with
others; they use sounds and random words to create a certain way of talking to
others (e.g.” gagaga”, “waga”, “waaah” etc.) after a certain stage they slowly
grow into a word.
The word “Water” they first try to mimic by using
“gaga” it has the exact same amount of syllables (2. Wa-ter ga-ga) after a
certain amount of weeks the baby will start to change the way they say it
closer to the word “water” and they use “wa da” or “wah wah” the next stage is
the final stage and that is when they can just say “water”, the stages take
time to develop and go through each stage.
Babies just mimic (or try to at least) what their parents say. Parents
use the Basic English by saying water in a way to speak to the baby.
Children learn language easier
than their parents/adults because they have a chromosome that makes us have
speech and communicate. Another reason
why children learn better are because that their brain is still
developing and when they start learning and hearing words they start to
remember and it’s basically inside the time when their brain is still starting
to learn.
People play a very important
role in child learning language, because if they are isolated they most likely
won’t be able to learn, because they lack communication of their life. But it
hasn’t been proven because nobody is able to try that experiment since it is
the “Forbidden experiment”.
There is no more information on Human learning language because from the start it was basically only theories and to learn more you would need to do certain experiments but they are too cruel to do that, so until they find more experiments to get similar results information on human learning language.
How do humans learn language
How do humans learn language?
-When do we start learning language?
-What are some features of child language?
Humans are developing their understanding of language
everyday by the age of 5 a child knows around 5000 words, and a further 2000
words each year afterwards. But when do we start learning these words?
Scientists have been conducting experiments on newborn
babies by monitoring the activity of the baby’s brain when it is exposed to
words spoken by a computer, their mother and a stranger. This experiment showed
that the baby responded only to their mother’s voice, this proved that the baby
had been learning to speak while in the womb.
When a child is born it is constantly learning the vital
skills of speech, they start out by making simple sounds trying to imitate the
words of the parents. An example of this is the child trying to learn the word
water. The child attempts to say water and says gaga, then the child begins to
make to word sound more and more like water such as, waga, wawa, wadder, and
then finally the child would pronounce the word water.
How connected is language to culture?
Is it possible to think of a concept that
your culture doesn't have a word for?
Yes, it is possible. Many cultures have
words for different concepts that we do not have as English speakers. Many
nursery rhymes and fairy tales are not recognised in other cultures because
they do not need to teach those morals in their everyday life. On the other
hand, those different fairy tales can be chopped and changed to suit each
different culture. We, as members of western society, also have words that
other cultures do not have, things like technology and modern medicine that
some tribal cultures have not learnt of yet.
Do the languages you're exposed to affect
your personality? What about the physical structure of your brain? Or your
intellectual capacity?
It has been shown that people can switch
between different ways of interpreting events and feelings, which is known as ‘frame
shifting’. Researchers say that bilingual people that actively speak and are
involved in two different cultures frame shift more readily and that language
is the trigger.
According to an article by The Guardian, it
has been found that if you are bilingual or multilingual, you delay a diagnosis
of Alzheimer’s and it may boost brain power. Also, bilingual children who use
their second language frequently are better at multi-tasking and prioritising
tasks. The article also stated that “switching
between different languages seems to stimulate the brain so that it builds up a
cognitive reserve”.
Do you know any examples of words that are
specific to particular cultures?
Words like ‘Jayus’, which is an Indonesian
word that means “A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but
laugh”. We simply do not have a word for this concept but the Indonesian
language has adapted to accommodate this new word.
How do humans learn language?
-When do we start learning
language?
-What are some features of child
language?
We start learning language as an
infant by crying and fussing but that sort of communication can only get us so
far, the baby needs a better way of communication and starts making sounds. By
11 to 12 months, the baby is mimicking its parents and is starting to produce
words and then joining them into short 2 word phrases. (More milk) By the age
of 3, most babies can produce complete sentences, and can express their needs
with words at least after crying fails.
How do humans learn language? After all the English language of any other
language is so sophisticated, yet all babies learn it faster, more efficiently
and in-depth than the smartest computer. Full of variations, different
pronunciations and loaded with meaning and implication this amazing and unique communication
skill makes us human.
Although
English is extremely complicated at least for computers learning languages
comes as naturally to infants "as a birds singing to attract a mate"
This means most kids get enough stimulation to learn their natural language
without any effort by the parents.
How do Infants learn language?
How do Infants learn language?
For and infant to learn a complicated language like English,
they need to use steps to slowly learn it. When and infants first attempts to
communicate, if might be in babbling or crying, even though these are words
that everyone could easily understand, this is the building blocks that soon
build into a huge vocabulary. Babbling serves as a means of practicing motor
skills of the vocal cords and the mouth muscles that will aid in speaking. The
next step of learning to communicate is learning single to two word phrases,
this usually happens at around twelve months. These single words often take
time to learn, it takes an average of three days for an infant to learn one
word. The last step of learning language
is being able to construct full sentences; this can happen as early at three
years of age. Once a child has a grasp
of how a sentence is structured and how to use basic grammar, the child ability
to learn language increases rapidly to around ten words a day.
Infants begin to learn language by distinguishing individual
words by listening to spaces and patterns that emerge. An infant will learn
patterns that certain words have, when they hear a new sound that does not
follow the same pattern as the last the distinguish that this is a new word.
Once they have distinguished a sound the next step is to find out what that
word means, often this is done by what context the word was used in. This
pattern of learning is used even into our thirties; at the age of thirty the
average human has a vocabulary of around 80,000 to 100,000 words.
From the beginning of learning language, one word by one,
too be able to use two word phrases too complete sentences to knowing up to and
over 100,000 words, is a huge accomplishment by anyone’s means and just proves
that the ability to learn and to communicate is built into every single
human
Language Acquisition in Children
Language acquisition in children
“The acquisition of something as complex as human language must be
among our greatest achievements.”(Barry Blake 2008: 250) Humans have a very
unique ability of being able to talk to one another through speech and have an
extensive conversation. Speech is
acquired very early on in life, babies listen to words that their parents say
and attempt to say them as well. Although babies don’t say complete words they
still learn certain sounds. The most
astounding thing that modern science has discovered is that babies, while still
in the womb have the ability to listen to speech and once born, retain that
knowledge ready to start learning words.
Speech is the act of
expressing or describing thoughts, feelings, or perceptions by the use of
words. Sound is used for a huge range of different ways to communicate, from
talking to singing, laughing to crying and all the sounds originate from the
vocal cords. The act of speaking is made up of sounds such as ‘sh’, ‘u ’ and
‘t’ making the word shut, the word ‘shut’ can be used in a group of words such
as ‘Excuse me could you please shut the back door properly.’ making a
sentence that can be spoken.
Learning to speak is one of the most
difficult challenges a child undergoes without even knowing it. Baby babble, or
making sound is the first stage of learning how to pronounce full words, this can
also be labelled as the cognitive stage of language. Learning words, Is the
second stage of learning language. In this stage babies join sounds together to
create simple word such as mum and dad this can also be labelled the
associative stage of language. The final stage is, learning sentences and how
they are structured at this stage language is at the autonomous stage. Such as
saying “I want a cookie” not “Want I a cookie”. As babies develop into grown
humans their vocabulary widens and their selection of words grows. A fully
developed human has an approximate vocabulary of about fifteen thousand words,
compared to Shakespeare who had a thirty thousand word vocabulary.
Babies star to learn language while still in the womb, listening
to their mothers’ voice as they develop, but the language in children is in
development from the moment they are born to about the age of ten. Even though
we never stop learning language the majority of language learnt is when
children are attending their first five years of school. Despite their being
171476 words in the second edition of the 20th volume of the Oxford
English dictionary it is said that around 47000 of those words are obsolete.
In final children have a long journey in acquiring language, but
we never really stop learning language. It evolves and changes as new
generations become lazier with speech and add new contractions such as ‘LOL’
and ‘Thx’.
Bibliography:
How Do Children Learn Language, 2012, Available [http://giftedkids.about.com/od/gifted101/a/language_learning.htm]
How Children Learn Language, 2012, Available [http://www.early-advantage.com/articles/universalgrammar.aspx]
When Did Humans Develop Language
When Did Humans Develop Language
Studies have shown that there is
a gene, one chromosome that separates us from animals, allowing us to speak.
One chromosome that, differs from any and all of the animals, is chromosome 7,
in which, there are links, that other animals with the same chromosome do not
have. It’s this difference that allows us to speak and develop language.
To further prove this, there is a family in England, which have a heavy speech impediment that impairs their pronunciation and speech. This is not just a single thing either, as there is a child, completely unrelated on a different side of the world, with the same condition. Gene studies have found that these people have missing links in their chromosome 7 gene.
To further prove this, there is a family in England, which have a heavy speech impediment that impairs their pronunciation and speech. This is not just a single thing either, as there is a child, completely unrelated on a different side of the world, with the same condition. Gene studies have found that these people have missing links in their chromosome 7 gene.
Is it possible to think of a concept that the English language doesn’t have a word for?
Language is a very useful tool, which helps us to express
our thoughts and feelings to other people, and even to ourselves. Most of us think to ourselves in words, which
helps us to create complex thoughts and memories. But this leads us to an
interesting question: If there is no language or word to describe something –
no possible way of explaining a concept – is it still possible to actually
think of this concept? Of course, animals and babies who have no knowledge of
language still have feelings – hunger, pain, even freedom and love. Even if
they cannot explain it, the feeling is still there. There are words in other
cultures which are hard to translate, but which are still familiar ideas in
English – The Indonesian word ‘jayus’ means ‘a joke so unfunny that it makes
you laugh anyway’, the German ‘Shadenfreude’ – ‘the enjoyment people get out of
watching other people’s misfortune’ and the Arabic ‘Ya’aburnee’, ‘the hope that
you will die before someone else because you couldn’t live without them’.
However, it is possible that the rules of the language we speak could restrict
our thoughts and ideas in a certain way. For instance, in English, nouns are
just nouns, but in other languages, nouns can be classified as feminine,
masculine or neuter, or, in the language Ojibwemownin, as alive or dead,
animate or inanimate. These concepts in themselves are not new in the English
language, but if you only knew English, would you ever think of classifying
nouns like this? In the language of the Baffin Island Inuit the word
“uvatiarru” means both “in the distant past” and “in the distant future”. This
is described in Carl Honoré’s book ‘ In
Praise of Slow’ where he says “Time, in such cultures, is always coming as
well as going.” These are just a couple of examples of how different cultures
have concepts in their languages that English doesn’t have. The obvious problem
is that, if there are concepts which cannot be thought of due to the
restrictions of our language, how is it possible to explain what those concepts
are? I believe that languages do affect the way that people think, but I also
believe that there is understanding in all of us which goes beyond words and
which is common to all humans. Language is essential to life, but thought can
come without it as well.
Learning to Speak
To be able to learn a language you first have to be able to
know where each sentences starts and finishes and to be able to group all the
noises into words and phrases. It’s believed that infants learn the patterns of
sounds that are formed by words. This is how they tell how a word, and when a
word, starts and finishes.
Once we have figured out where the words are, we then need
to figure out how to produce these different noises. This comes from practice.
Infants start off with single words, like ball. They will use body language to
assist their communication, such as pointing or simple looking at what they
want. Before they can actually say the word in the way we can understand they
go through numerous attempts that just sound like random noises. We call this ‘Baby
talk’ and it’s simply their attempt at communicating and producing speech.
Scientists have also found that while parents are trying to
teach their child how to speak, they change their way of talking so that it is
more understandable. The will shorten and simplify their sentences and will put
emphasis on certain words in the sentence. E.g. “Is that mummy?” this
also helps the infant hear the difference between words.
"Why Do We Talk" - Documentary SBS.
When did humans develop language?
-what do you think caused humans to develop
language skills?
-what order do you think the modes of
language developed in and why? (sign, speech, writing)
Language develops at different rates from person to person.
Some people gain language skills really early and others take a lot longer to
get a grasp of language. I think it’s impossible to pinpoint an exact time or even
a year when humans developed language. Because it is undecided about who the
first people on the planet were you can never trace back to who first spoke
words. What Is language anyway, is it the grunts of cavemen, the click
communication that some tribes in Africa use or is it modern day words and sentences?
According to the website (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/language)
the
definition for language is Communication of thoughts
and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds,
gestures, or written symbols. So going on this definition language can
be any of the three things, (sign, speech or writing) therefore I don’t believe
that the time of when humans developed language can be pinpointed at all, and
there would be an even spread of people backing the side of all three options.
The order language developed was sign, speech then writing. What
the video showed us about how babies learn, in my opinion, explained how humans
have developed language. I think language has been developed in the same order
the baby learned it but a lot slower. Babies point at things when they aren’t
sure what to say and hold their arms up when they want to be held. This can
happen before the child can speak. The first step then being sign which is a
way of communicating to parents without talking.
Cavemen were believed to use grunts and noises to communicate the
same way a baby starts to speak by speaking gibberish and making noises. As
time went by people began using more form in their noises and those noises
became words. The last step in language
is writing because you can’t write if you don’t have words and you don’t have
words if you can’t talk.
This is how I come to the conclusion that the order language was
developed was sign, speech and then finally writing.
Kyle Murphy
How did humans learn language?
How do humans learn
language?
Language is complex. That is the
simplest way to describe. It is complex with all of its rules and exceptions,
sounds and different combinations of sounds that make weird and wonderful
words. Then why do, in a matter of a few years, do humans learn English so
easily when as infants?
The answer is extended but in
brief it all starts in the womb. When babies are in the womb, they are picking
up sounds that are said by the mother. But over the course of the first few
years the baby picks up sounds and words said in the environment in which they
are staying. The environment is a key to a child’s language. And scientists
wanted to test that theory with the Forbidden
Experiment.
Wikipedia describes the Forbidden Experiment as “the exceptional deprivation of ordinary human
contact it requires.” In short, the Forbidden
Experiment is an experiment in which a child is raised in an environment
without culture; the child is raised in solitary conditions. Sociolinguists
came up with this theory to see if a child could develop a sense of language
themselves without any help, but the ethical side of the experiment stopped the
sociolinguists from proceeding.
So instead, scientists conducted
the Forbidden Experiment on zebra
finches to see how they develop their own sense of language, for their call was
like a song which the younger male zebra finches copied from their father. But
not only copied their fathers, but they also improved the song to make it their
own. Their song would attract females. Scientists thought that with the lack of
the parental presence, the young zebra finches would not be able to sing. The
experiment was successful. When the zebra finches grew up and they tried to
attract females with their songs, it came out as a croak instead. Only the most
desperate females would mate with the male birds. But then scientists continued
the experiment to see if the birds could develop their own songs. And it
happened. After 4 generations of the zebra finches being isolated, the
scientists let the newer birds back out into the open and their songs were able
to pick up the females for mating just as easily as the birds that weren’t
isolated. At the end, this experiment had proved that isolated birds were able
to create their own songs over the generations as successfully as birds that
were not isolated in the first place.
In short, scientists were able to
prove that birds were able to develop their own songs. But now the question is,
are humans able to? Once the sociolinguists are able to get past the ethical
debate, they would try the Forbidden
Experiment and that would give the scientists a very good idea of how
language is formed.
When Do We Start Learning Language?
We start learning language at birth. Infants pay attention
to their parent voices instead of random noises or other languages. We don’t
fully understand most of language until the age of ten.
Children learn language out of necessity, it is frustrating
for them to try and talk to people without people being able to understand
them. When adults try and learn another
language they have very little
motivation and find study the language for even the smallest of time tedious.
But children have the motivation and time to learn language, they want to be
understood and so they spend a lot of time learning language.
Although there are kids all over the world who have trouble
speaking in their native language because they can’t pronounce certain sounds
or have a disability preventing them. For example my brother has Dyspraxia
which prevents him from being able to pronounce certain sounds properly, having
subpar motor and co-ordination skills and has some mild behavioural issues
along with it because of the frustrations he has when people can’t understand
him. He didn’t start speaking clearly (people outside of my family could
understand) until he was in prep which was only 3 years ago. He had to have speech
therapy from the age of four and still has to have the occasional speech
therapy at his school. If someone hasn’t
seen my brother in a long time they will always remark about how much easier it
is to understand him and how well he can speak. He still does have times when
people find it hard to understand him; this is mostly when he is tired and his
brain doesn’t want to put the effort into speaking properly. As well as seeing
a speech therapist he also saw (and still, like speech therapy, does occasionally
see) an occupational therapist which helps him with his motor skills.
We as humans, start learning language from birth but it
takes (for most people) until the age of 10-18 months to say their first word and
by around the age 3 we can talk in complete sentences, but people with speech
impediments like my brother it can take much longer.
What is Language?
What is Language?
Tayla Millard
Tayla Millard
What is language? It sounds like a silly question really,
but for something so natural there is so much we don’t know. What we do know,
is that language is used everywhere. We may not speak the same language, but language is a form of human communication, a
necessity for survival. Talking is not the only form of language. For those who
can’t speak verbally, sign language is another means of communication, as well
as writing! The 3 Modes of Language as well as the uses for language will be
further explored in this essay.
When thinking of Language, talking verbally is often the
first thing to spring to mind. This is probably because it’s our primary source
of communication. On average, we speak around 15,000 words a day, if not more
for females! But why do we need to say so many words? To socialise, instruct,
learn, entertain, express feelings, ask questions, to celebrate, overall: to
communicate. As against writing or signing, speaking verbally is the most
efficient. It’s faster, more direct, less chance for misinterpretation and is
best accompanied by the use of body language and facial expressions. The
characteristics of Language are so diverse. Changing the tone or raising your
voice during a conversation can alter the message conveyed. As well as the
context it is used in. For example, if I said, “The bank is nearby” I could be
talking about the Financial Institution or the river bank. Endless
possibilities!
Sign Language, often used by the deaf is another form of
language. It is used for the same purpose- to convey a message or piece of
information. The only differences, apart from the absence of verbal noises is
that sign language can be misinterpreted from the inability to hear the tone of
voice, in the cases of a deaf person.
Lastly, writing is another mode of language. Why do we write
things if we can speak them, what are the differences? Writing allows the
message to be delivered in a higher formality.
Writing can be used educationally, instructively or used to express
sympathy or emotions without getting muddled up by saying it in person. Writing
is also permanent, can be impersonal and is clear and precise.
Despite the mode, language is necessary for human
interaction and evolution. Without it, we could not have come so far in terms
of technology, science, health and every aspect of life. “Language is a means of getting an idea from my brain into yours
without surgery.” Mark Amidon. We can share what’s in our thoughts and make
it someone else’s and this, I believe, is the purpose of language.
Mispronounciation Sketch
Need I say more? A comedy sketch where almost every word is mispronounced. I love it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ0nFQgRApY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ0nFQgRApY
Rachel Fletcher (Q's about Language)
(My 250-500 word summary on questions about language)
Is it only Humans
that have Language? Rachel
Fletcher.
Do Animals
Communicate? How/which ones?
How Does Human/Animal
Language Differ?
Language is exclusively human. Language is natural to us.
Animals use sound to communicate, we can talk to communicate. The human larynx is lower in our throat which
gives us the ability to form more complex sounds. This helps us talk, unlike
our animal counterparts whose larynx is much higher and therefore makes it
extremely difficult for them to produce complex sounds, like our words. Animals
not being able to talk isn’t just down to the fact of their different larynx to
us scientists have also found a gene that we have that animals don’t. This gene
named FOXP2 is what produces the small muscle movements in our mouth that
allows us to talk and may be the reason why animals don’t talk.
Animals cannot talk. Language is exclusively ours. But
animals still have a way to communicate. How else would animals show
attraction, aggression, submission to another of its species? How else could they warn off predators, of
predators? When they want to make known the availability of food, suitability
of an environment, what are they do to communicate these things.
Animals have ways of communicating that we don’t. Just
because they can’t talk doesn’t mean they don’t communicate. They have other
special ways to communicate. Eels
are known to use pulsating fields to communicate. Elephants use low frequency
sounds to communicate with each other, which can be heard up to sixteen
kilometres away. Dolphins and whales will sing to communicate. Meanwhile bees
rely on their queen to release pheromones into the hive to communicate to them
that all is well, that they still have a queen. When these pheromones are not
released the bees will larvae, royal jelly that then transforms ordinary larvae
into a new queen.
‘Animal
communication is the transmission of a signal from one animal to another such
that the sender benefits, on average, from the response of the recipient.’-Slater
1983
(Resources Used)
-Why Do We Talk? Documentary SBS
-Love the Lingo VCE Units 1 & 2 English Language. K.
Burridge, D. De. Laps
Animal/Human Language
Is it only humans that have
language?
-do animals
communicate? How? Which? Yes I believe that all animals communicate, different
animals communicate differently like a whale song, a wolfs howl or a dog’s wag
of his tail etc. animals communication falls into four categories Visual usually used to get a mate or sometimes in a
snakes case to scare off other creatures or like dolphins slapping their tail
on top of the water Auditory is usually used to
communicate to other animals of the same species to let them know where they
are and where they are going etc. like a wolfs howl or an elephants trunk
signals a pack, Tactile communication is used to
assert dominance or to show affection or stimulate their development and lastly Chemical It is used to mark their scent on trees or
on other animals and ants use there pheromone to tell other ants which way they
went and skunks use their signature smell to deter predators
-how does human
and animal language differ? Humans language differs from animal language
because animals just communicate through actions and certain grunt sounds of
their species and scents which communicate where they are and what they want
etc. where as humans developed high tech languages which animals would never
have been able to create by themselves because their brain isn’t developed
enough. Also the same types of animals sometimes have two or more languages or
sometimes even two at the same time like the blue whale has multiple tones and
water vibrations to talk to the other blue whales
Many animals have
slightly lost their ability to communicate because birds try to call over the
sound of the urban city and they have to modify their voices to make it louder
which makes their call less clearer and sometimes not understandable
References –
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/animals-communicate.htm
DO ANIMALS COMMUNICATE? HOW? WHICH?
Animals don’t
communicate the way humans do, such as talking, writing or sign language. All
different animals have a special way of communicating to their own species
and/or to other species of animals. In all animals their larynx isn’t as long
as humans which cause them not to be able to talk like humans do. Although
animals voice boxes are different to humans they still have a bit of control
over the movement of it, making it prove that if speaking was down to anatomy all
animals would be able talk to humans.
Since animals can’t
talk through English language they use other things such as body language,
sounds and smells. Numerous animals communicate by smell by discharging
airborne chemicals called pheromones to send messages to each other.
There are three types
of Insect and three types of Mammal Pheromones that all help animals
communicate in altered ways. An Insect Pheromone, Alarm Pheromone response to
danger or stress and is produced by animals like ants to other ants nearby to
let them know they’re in trouble and need help. The Trail Pheromone is also
used by ants but for a complete opposite reasoning. This Pheromone signal tells
other ants nearby that there is food on its way to the nest. The last Insect Pheromone
is Sexual Attractants which females use to release pheromones to attract the
opposite sex.
The three Mammal
Pheromones are Releaser Pheromone, Primer Pheromone and Information Pheromone.
The Releaser Pheromone is used for specific behaviour such as animals, dogs in
particular marking their territory and also a female rabbit releasing the scent
enforces their young to immediately start nursing. Primes Pheromones for
mammals are basically the same as the Sexual Attractants for insects, this
Pheromone when released from a female at peak fertility cause a change in the
endocrine system of the male receiving the scent and then the male displays
increasing behaviour on the female. The final Mammal Pheromone being
Information Pheromone scent is used to provide another animal of that animal’s
identity, by smelling them they can tell things like what their level of health
is, if they are in heat or their level of dominance.
Pheromones are an
important part for an animal’s reproduction and social behaviour, animals such
as insects, wolves and deer’s all use Pheromones as their main source of
communication.
How connected is language to culture?
Quite a lot
of people always wonder…how connected is language to culture? The answer? Huge.
What would we do without language if it wasn’t for culture? In the following
points we explore all instances that this is very true, and how culture
influences language and vice versa.In some instances, culture and language are tightly linked. Without one, you wouldn’t have the other. Culture influences the way we speak and interpret different meanings. From cultural connection, from generations being passed down, we understand learning the language from our particular group of culture. From the different words we use and how they have come to use these words, within our cultural background. Without the cultural background we are from what would we sound like? How would we perceive each other’s words?
Another connection between language and culture is the different languages that are used between each cultural background. All the people in the world don’t all speak the same language, due to being from different countries, they have formed their own language, from generations ago, and this is how culture is relatively very connected to the language people speak today. From English, Chinese, Italian and Greek, it all perceives the language we use to connect us to our cultural differences and the country we belong to create this culture.
So, do languages form cultures, or do cultures form language? In this instance, I believe that languages form our cultures. Without the particular language from our cultures, there wouldn’t be a cultural group we belong to. If language didn’t exist, then there wouldn’t be cultural differences between people, and we would all be the ‘same’.
Through theory from, early Anthropologists, they believed that words determined thought, and that language and its structure were totally dependent on cultural context. Culture adapted the social behaviours, human emotions or way of expressing feelings for language to interpret these into words and notions of body language. Through the different cultural meanings of thoughts and feelings, the languages that particular cultures use, transforms these thoughts and feelings into their own.
Overall,
from the information above, without language there wouldn’t have been culture,
and without culture there wouldn’t be language. It is now safe to say that,
language greatly influences culture and culture influences language.
Bibliography:
When did humans develop language?
The development of language depends on what your beliefs are. I think that language was developed through evolution. Many scientists disagree on how language developed, some have thought that human’s started to speak as soon as our brains became developed enough.Others think language evolved from the pre historic era, and our ape-like ancestors, which would have made sounds to communicate by changing the pitch, and attempting different sounds, as well as body language, kind of like what a new born baby does now days, they find their own way of communicating with their parents by crying making sounds, and some parents even teach their children a sign for different words.
I think the order in which language evolved was sign, speech and then written. I think this because at first people would have just made noises in form of words and they would have signalled the action at the same time, and then once we learnt to control our voices we would have learnt to speak, cave paintings would have been a popular way to tell stories when there wasn’t a language to speak, and writing would have come last with the formation of letters. Some advantages from writing being invented would be that we can communicate on paper instead of just speaking, in the pre historic era cave paintings were developed to tell stories, and now that writing has been developed that is how we tell stories. Because of writing you can get a richer learning experience, in school not many people would have learnt as much as we have, if we didn’t have writing.
How Do Humans Learn Language?
How do humans learn language?
Language is in our lives as soon as we are born. Children learn it without any thought whatsoever.
Children learn language from their parents/caregivers. They learn language by adult expectations and model their behaviour by what is going on around them. Children then learn how to function right in their environment, and know how to use body language, and when it is okay to say something appropriate. Children learn a lot by listening to their parents/caregivers, and this is a great way how to learn language.
The way that children learn how to speak has quite a few steps involved. First is babbling (no talking as such), single words (for instance cat, dog etc.), followed by requests/questions, then linking words together (or known as two words), and as time goes on, more complicated sentence structures.
When a child is learning to speak, the child will find it easier to understand you if you simplify your speech so that you can build upon their learning. When a child is learning a language, they will learn 8000 words per year on average. When the child is five years of age, they will already know 5000 words.
There are a few features of child language. One of the features is that sounds and structures of words aren’t well-formed. This is a bridge that all children need to cross as they grow older. As a child is developing language skills, they are exposed to quite a lot of sounds that they will eventually learn. This does take time, and patience, but they learn from their parents/caregivers and this helps dramatically in child language acquisition.
In a child’s developing brain, language comes from the left hemisphere of the brain. This is evident in studies done by scientists.
When children learn language, the strategies they use are quite useful and evident. Children can learn words from past experience, or they learn in stages (for instance, we walk before we run). This seems quite logical, as children learn language very slowly. Children learn language at different rates to others, but this is normal, as each child has different learning capabilities. Children will not learn what they are not ready for, so they will go at their own pace. Children are only competing with themselves to learn language.
Speech and language are two different things. Language is an intellectual ability, while speech is a physical ability. There’s nothing wrong with someone’s language if they stutter, because it is a physical thing, not intellectual.
Language is just a tool that helps people get through life and gets things done for them. Children don’t really know this, so children will discover language their own way and discover new things in life.
Bibliography:
http://linguistlist.org/ask-ling/lang-acq.cfm#individual
“Why Do We Talk” – Documentary on SBS – 2010
Damara Pearson - 1B
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