PSY 357 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Arbitrariness, Ray Jackendoff, Sign Language
Document Summary
Is human language special: no matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor but honest. --bertrand russell. Other animals communicate: cats meow usually for food or attention, bees perform waggle dance to point in direction and distance of food source. Productivity: answering a question he"s never heard before. Duality of patterning: the guy"s accent, sea lion couldn"t understand. Saying things when no one was there: video: primate communication. Types of words vervet monkeys produce and understand: Story of lucy implications for animal language. Chimpanzee raised as child until age 13, sent to a zoo with wild- born chimps. Eventually she saw someone she knew and was able to sign to them she was unhappy: importance: was able to remember her signs although she didn"t use them for years, unprompted, spontaneous use of language. Two sides of animal language issue: pessimistic. Washoe adopted loulis and taught him sign language (generational transmittance)
