PSYCH 1X03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Phoneme, Second Language, Columbia University

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 1X03
• Professor: Joe Kim

Document Summary

Second language (arbitrary): second language is arbitrary, ex; there is nothing about the sound of the word cat to indicate that it refers to a furry animal with whiskers and a tail. If the sound used we used to identify an object has to relate or describe that object in so(cid:373)e wat, it would(cid:374)"t (cid:373)ake a(cid:374)y se(cid:374)se to call the same object a cart in english and a goyangee in korean. This means that there are almost limitless ways to combine words to describe objects situations and actions. One line of evidence supporting this hypothesis comes from a study of the piraha, a tribe hunter gatherers in brazil the native language contains three counting words corresponding to one, two, and many. According to this theory, this tribe should have trouble understanding fine numerical concepts because the language lacks words for these fine distinctions.