PSYCH 1X03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Lip Reading, Animal Communication, Elos
7 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Language is regular: it is governed by rules and grammar , a sentence can be changed and still retain its meaning. Language is arbitrary- lack of resemblance between words and what they represent. Language is productive- can be combined in almost limitless ways. Whorf- sapir hypothesis- language influences the way we perceive and experience the world. Ex. tribe in the amazon had difficulty understanding fine numerical concepts as their language lacked the words for the distinctions ( they had counting words for one , two and many) Counter evidence: some languages do not have words distinguishing senior male relatives from each other ( grandpa, uncle etc) but clearly understand these relationships. Morphemes- the smallest unit of sound that contains information, often a word, but some words contain multiple morphemes * some do not have meaning unless added to another morpheme ex. ( table)(s) Phonemes- are the smallest unit of sound in a words.
