PSY 3136 Lecture 2: Background of Language
22 Jan 2016
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Document Summary
Textbook: systematic and conventional use of sounds (or signs or written symbols) for the purpose of communication or self-expression. Oed: the system of spoken or written communication used by a particular country, people, community, etc. , typically consisting of words used within a regular grammatical and syntactic structure. A city, to the building of which every human being brought a stone. (from a poem) 1: arbitrary: important because it takes it beyond other communicative systems (e. g. a dog barks because it reacts to the squirrel, not trying to tell people about the squirrel) goes beyond reflex and simple reaction. Multilayered: layers pragmatics, semantics, grammar, phonology, etc. (simultaneously) Productive: language has an infinite combination of new words/sentences. Evolutionary: language can and must change (e. g. texting did not exist 20 years ago); if it doesn"t change, it will become extinct. Summarized by one word: how: how do you learn language (acquisition of language, how is language represented in the brain.
