LIN200H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Generative Grammar, Word Formation, Baby Talk
Document Summary
Human language has numerous features that distinguish it from other communication systems: However, in english cows moo but in tamil, cows are called maahd because they are said to make the sound. Maa. similar to the fact in english frogs ribbit but in japanese they. Gero gero : discreteness: refers to the fact that linguistic messages are made up of smaller, repeatable discrete parts. What i made for dinner last night: productivity: language users can understand and create never-before heard utterances. If we take for example the african vervet monkey communication statement. We notice that it has some design features such as semanticity (signals have meanings, a distinct call for each of their predators), arbitrariness (no logical connection between the signal and the predator such as the leopard). It is hard to say if they can a acquire language as most lack the same vocal apparatus they have to use a different modality, and it"s hard to measure.
