PSYCH 1X03 Lecture Notes - Canadian Raising, Classical Conditioning, Foreign Accent Syndrome
Document Summary
One of the most complex forms of communication. Most psychologists consider only human communication to be language. Researchers have identified 3 criteria that outline a true language. First, language is regular, meaning that it is governed by rules and grammar. A sentence can be reorganized and still retain its meaning because a system of rules details how each word fits with the ones around it. What specific sound is assigned to represent a concept is completely arbitrary. There is nothing about the sounds of the word cat to indicate that it refers to a furry animal with whiskers and a tail. Lack of resemblance between words and their meaning. There are almost limitless ways to combine words to describe objects, situations, and actions. This is particularly evident when observing native language development in infants: infants have an impressive propensity for learning language and actively experiment with novel word and sound combinations that have never been explicitly taught.
