ANT253H1 Lecture : Lecture#1-What is Language?
Document Summary
2011-10-12: language constitutes the overarching memory system of the human species. Defining language bearing signs: language can be defined as the use of the tongue to create meaning, a sign is anything that stands for something other than itself, e. g. Innate and empiricist (empty slate) approach to how humans learn language: empiricist. We are endowed with a language faculty or organ: innatists. 2011-10-12: when the child first learns language, it makes cooing sounds. 20 weeks of age, they start producing speech sounds: when they reach 6 months, they start to emit monosyllabic utterances (mu,ma,da, di etc ) known as holophrastic, there are three basic functions of holophrastic. 2) expressing an action or desire for some action. Imitation is key to language learning for young children. In any typical early sentence structuring, there are two main classes of words called the pivot class and open class: pivot class has fewer members and the open class has many more.
