Psychology 3130A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Dani People, Color Term, Inuit Languages
25 Apr 2016
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Non-human communication/language-like behaviour used to engage in direct communication or as a response to external stimuli. Criticism: communication not arbitrary and productive direct requests and responses. Charles hockett 13 characteristics of human languages: has total feedback. What you say, you can also hear. Receive feedback directly related to what you intended to say: productive. Can express infinite number of things and ideas. No limit to what we can say, but in a finite system. English = 26 letters, 24 consonants, 20 vocal phonemes: arbitrary. Doesn"t need to be a correspondence between the sound of a word and the idea it expresses. Small set of exceptions words that sound like the idea. Mental symbols that link together percepts and concepts. Thought transmission system: use language to transmit idea to another person, surface structure. Words used, spoken sound, phrases, word order, written letters. What we perceive when we hear: deep structure. Underlying meaning/semantics of a linguistic entity: direct correspondence elusive.
