LING 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Operant Conditioning, Onomatopoeia, Kanzi
3 Feb 2015
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Document Summary
Animals can send around 30-35 number of messages (i. e. , hunger, danger, playful), humans can send infinite number. If we find that human language is on the same continuum as animal communication, then we might expect to find analogues of human linguistic behavior among animals [might support claim that human language evolved from animal communication] Iconic: what you see is what you get [e. g. , a photograph, an angry face, onomatopoeic words]: these are non-arbitrary, they actually bear some resemblance to the signified. Indexical: points out the signified [e. g. , animal tracks, smoke from fire: a subset of indexical signs is the symptomatic signs signs that spontaneously conveys the internal state of the sender [e. g. , ouch when punched] Symbolic: no necessary connection between sign and the signified [e. g. , human language arbitrary] Graded signs [e. g. , voice volume, change by degree] Discrete signs [e. g. , words, digital watches, are categorical]
