Chapter 10: Language in Context

1. Chapter 10: Language in Context

2. Some Questions of Interest • How does language affect the way we think? • How does our social context influence our use of language? • How can we find out about language by studying the human brain?

3. Language Affects Cognition: Perception, Memory

4. Linguistic Universals • Color naming • All languages use a set of 11 color names in hierarchical order: • Black/white • Red • Yellow/green/blue • Brown • Purple/pink/orange/gray

5. Language on perception demo

6. Language Affects Memory • “Washing clothes” • Leading questions in eyewitness testimony

7. Linguistic Relativity • Sapir-Whorf hypothesis • Strong interpretation: Thoughts and behavior are determined by language • More evidence against than for • Milder interpretation:Thoughts and behavior are influenced by language

8. Linguistic Relativity Studies • Bilinguals maintain that they “think” differently in different languages (Wierzbicka, 1985) • Differences in lexicons support lexical relativity when language differences lead to differing mental structures • But “Eskimos” don’t really have words for snow”

9. Grammatical Gender • Memory • Taught Spanish and German speakers object-name pairs (e.g., apple-Patrick) • remembered object-name pairs better when the gender of the proper name given to an object was consistent with the grammatical gender of the object • Perception • Masculine in German, feminine in Spanish • German: hard, heavy, jagged, metal, serrated • Spanish: golden, intricate, little, lovely, shiny

10. Bilingual Studies • Additive bilinguals • Learn a second language without loss to the native language • Subtractive bilinguals • Learn a second language that interferes with the native language • Simultaneous bilingual • Learn two languages from birth • Sequential bilinguals • First learn one language and then another

11. Factors Influencing Bilingualism Fluency • The earlier in life a second language is learned, the more fluent the speaker will become • Bahrick & colleagues disagree • Vocabulary and fluency is acquired just as well in older participants but not fluency

12. Bilingual Studies • Research showing advantages • enhanced executive functions • delayed onset of dementia • acquire more expertise in their own language • sensitive to subtle aspects of language • perform better on tests of nonverbal intelligence that require recognition of verbal patterns

13. Bilingual Studies • Research showing disadvantages • have smaller vocabularies • access to lexical items in memory is slower

14. Pidgins and Creoles Pidgins • Communication between two language groups • between immigrants and locals or missionaries and natives in order to be understood by each other without having to learn the language of the other group Creoles • are complete languages • Does have native speakers • Has developed through expansion form and grammar • Is stable and autonomous in its norms

15. Dialects A regional variety of a language distinguished by features such as vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation

16. Spalking in Toonerisms • Chipping the flannel • Box in the Jack • Your model is renosed • shaking my tower • Mardon me, Padam • the cricking of the chirpets • my stickers were fingy • heat seaters

17. Slips of the Tongue Errors can occur at any stage of speech production • Phoneme exchange • At the lead of spite • Go and shake a tower • Word-level error • I have to fill up my gas with car • Once I stop I cannot start • Your model is renosed

18. Figurative Uses of Language • Metaphor • Two nouns placed together to note similarities • Argument is war • Theories are buildings • Ideas are food • Similes introduce the words like or as into a comparison between items

19. Figurative Uses of Language • Metaphor • Argument is war • Theories are buildings • Ideas are food • Four key elements • Tenor • Vehicle • Ground • Tension

20. Mixed metaphors • A bird in hand is better than two burning in the bush • Up the creek without a canoe • We’ll burn that bridge before we get to it. • Strike while the iron is in the fire.

21. Pragmatics • Knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it or how to be around other people (Bowen, 2001) • Study of discourse and conversational skills • Situational determinants of the use of language

22. Pragmatic Skills • Establish common ground • Introduce a topic in order for the listener to fully understand • Maintaining a topic • Or change topic appropriately • Or interrupt politely • Appropriate eye contact • Not too much staring • Not too much looking away

23. Speech Acts • Five basic categories • Representative conveys info • I like polar bears. • Directive is order or request that causes behavior • Turn on the air conditioner. • Commissive is a promise/agreement to do something • I will make the cookies. • Expressive conveys information about inner state • I enjoy spending time with you. • Declaration is a statement that brings about new situation • I am now a vegetarian.

24. Social context affects speech act choices Bob is a junior executive for a fairly large corporation. He is on friendly terms with John, the company president, and they occasionally have lunch together. A few days earlier, they had both attended a company board meeting during which John had made a presentation. The presentation had not gone well and was obviously not well thought out. A few days later, Bob and John are alone and having lunch together when John says to Bob, “What did you think of the presentation that I gave to the board the other morning?”

25. Research on Speech Acts Which of the following responses would you give? • Direct and true: I really didn’t think your presentation was very good. • Direct and false: I really thought your presentation was very good. • Indirect evasive question: Don’t you think we should have our board meeting on some other day than Monday? • Evasive assertion: I think we should have our board meeting on some day other than Monday. • Indirect irrelevant question: Wasn’t that latest stock market rally sure a surprise? • Irrelevant assertion: The latest stock market rally was sure a surprise.

26. Indirect Speech Direct speech • Open the window. Indirect speech • Could you open the window? • It sure is hot in here.

27. Pinker’s Theory of Indirect Speech • Indirect speech can serve three purposes • Plausible deniability • Relationship negotiation • Language as a digital medium of indirect as well as direct communication

28. Conversational Postulates

29. Gender Differences in Language • Girls tend to talk about one topic • Girls talk face to face • Women tend to overlap and finish each others’ sentences • Boys tease, tell jokes, notice things around the room, talk about finding games to play • Boys talk at angles, eyes straight ahead • Men perceive this as an interruption, intrusion, or lack of attention

30. Animal Language

31. Grey Parrots • Labels for more than 35 objects (e.g., paper, key, wood, cork, etc.) • Functional use of No • Phrases such as I want X, Wanna go Y, where X and Y are appropriate words • Labels for 7 colors • Can identify number of items up to 6 • Alex can use vocabulary to identify proficiently, request, refuse, categorize, and quantify more than 100 different objects

32. Washoe • Washoe was able to use term more appropriately in different contexts • First use was more tickling • Transferred the sign dog to the sound of barking by an unseen dog • Washoe adopted an infant named Loulis • No humans signed in front of infant chimp • Loulis still managed to learn over 50 signs from other chimpanzees • No active teaching, rather Loulis just learned through observation among other signing chimps

33. Nim Chimpsky • Believed that apes only used signs to get rewards from trainers • Raised Nim in a human-like setting • Nim learned many words like dirty, sleep, bite, and angry • Nim did not learn to combine words to create new meaning on his own • After the experiments he continued to sign; his most-used signs seemed to be drink, gum, banana, and more

34. Koko • Patterson raising gorilla named Koko since 1972 • Has a greater vocabulary than Nim • Uses more words per utterances • Koko uses structure, is creative and spontaneous in her language • Koko has a vocabulary of over 1,000 signs, and understands even more spoken English • Koko invented her own new compound signs (e.g., finger-bracelet for ring)

35. Neuropsychology of Language

37. Neuropsychology of Language • Brain and semantics • ventral temporal lobes, including middle and inferior temporal, anterior fusiform, and anterior parahippocampal gyri • the angular gyrus • the anterior aspect (pars orbitalis) of the inferior frontal gyrus • the dorsal prefrontal cortex • the posterior cingulate gyrus

38. Neuropsychology of Language • Brain and syntax • ERP called P600 occurs after hearing a sentence with syntactic violations • ERP called N400 occurs after hearing a sentence related to semantic violations

39. Neuropsychology of Language • Brain and sign language • The locations of lesions that would be expected to disrupt speech also disrupt signing • All right-handers with signing deficits show left-hemisphere lesions, as do most left-handers • Some left-handers with signing deficits show right-hemisphere lesions

40. Neuropsychology of Language • Aphasia • Impaired language function due to brain damage • Wernicke’s • Broca’s • Global • Anomic

41. Normal vs. Wernicke’s Aphasia

42. Normal vs. Broca’s Aphasia

43. Neuropsychology of Language: Autism • Abnormal social, language, and cognition behaviors • Sex differences in brains • “Extreme male brain” • Executive dysfunction theory • Problem with frontal lobes