PSYCH 1X03 Lecture 7: Language Text and Lecture
5 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Words (written and spoken) only humans use language to communicate. User must understand various stimulus represent different meanings/concepts. Oral language the relevant stimuli are the sounds you emit of words. Each language has different stimuli but represents the concept as a whole: sign language the stimuli are signs, each witch represent a different word or letter of the alphabet. Words allow us to ask for things that are not present, while physical actions (pointing) cannot. The word is a symbol that represents the object. Provides and organized system to represent concepts symbolically and communicate simple and complex ideas about them: language involves arbitrary associations. One consequence of the symbolic nature of language is that the words we use for concepts are arbitrarily assigned. Other forms of communication do not involve arbitrary associations. I. e. all dogs show teeth to indicate aggression to serve as a warning while we have many different words to describe it.
