LINGUIS 5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Larry Hyman, Kana, Harry Osborn
Document Summary
Three long-standing problems of science: the nature of the brain, the nature of human languages, the relation between the two. Language = the mental system which underlies the ability to speak and understanding, including the ability of the deaf to sign and visually comprehend; speech = behavior (production, comprehension) It is wrong to exaggerate the similarity between language and other cognitive skills, because language stands apart in several ways. For one thing, the use of language is universal all normally developing children learn to speak at least one language, and many learn more than one. By contrast, not everyone becomes proficient at complex mathematical reasoning, few people learn to paint well, and many people cannot carry a tune. Because everyone is capable of learning to speak and understand language, it may seem to be simple. But just the opposite is true language is one of the most complex of all human cognitive abilities. http://www. linguisticsociety. org/resource/language-and-brain.
