ACS 106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Proto-Language, Phoneme, Double Articulation
Document Summary
Conventional and arbitrary relationship between form (sounds) and meaning (concept) can also be found in sign languages. Arbitrary: sound and the thing it represents are completely separate. Sound symbolism in language: words whose pronunciation suggests their meaning, most languages contain onomatopoeic words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions to which they refer (eg. buzz, zap, pow, etc) Pooh-pooh theory (emotional states, eg. reactions to pain etc) The ability to reflect on language and its uses. Humans contain the capacity to reflect on their own use of language. The ability to refer to times and spaces that are not in the here-and-now. Animals are able to use displacement, but this is very limited. Eg. waggle dance among bees to communicate that a pollen bonanza is near. The link between form and meaning in human language is classically defined as an arbitrary relationship.