What is language?

Language is constructed and intentional

Language is rule governed

Language is creative and open ended

Language is social

Language does something.

Problems of Language

Vagueness“Pile” Paradox

AmbiguityFlying planes can be dangerous.

I dislike visiting relatives.

Cleaning fluids can be dangerous.

Connotations“Negro”

Curse words

Renaissance Curse words

S’Blood!

By the Rood!

Fie!

Ethics and HistoryModern English Curse words

What makes something a curse word?

When does it stop being a curse word?

What does a curse words do?

What’s in a name?According to National Bureau of Economic Research…

Identical Resumes with “White” names (Greg, Emily, Anne) received 50% more callbacks than resumes with African-American sounding names like Jamal, Tyrone, Tamika, and Rasheed.

More education and skills did not make a difference in responses

According to Journal of Applied Psychology…

Calls about apartment vacancies in LA elicited 89% positive responses for whites,

66% positive responses for foreign sounded names, and 56% positive responses for African-American sounding names

According to University of Florida Study…

Girls with more “Feminine” were less likely to study math and science

1,000 pairs of twins names Isabelle and Alex were studied. Study found Alex twice as likely to study math or science at a higher level than her twin Isabelle.

Questions about Language

How is language acquired? Nature or Nurture?

How does language affect thinking?

Do animals use language?

Can everyone learn language?

How do culture and gender influence language usage?

Language Acquisition: Nature vs. Nurture

Nature:Traditionally language was seen as an innate human ability. A child who was not taught to speak as an infant would eventually develop language or be able to “catch-up” once taught.

Nurture:Language is a product of upbringing and environment

Language is a product of parental upbringing

Major Language Theories(Nature vs. Nurture)

Noam Chomsky / Steven Pinker

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Noam Chomsky / Steven PinkerLanguage as innate instinct

“Universal Grammar”

“Critical Period” hypothesis (Lenneberg)

Universal Grammar

All humans are born with a limited set of rules for organizing language, but use it or lose it.

Learning one language aids one in learning other languages since all languages in some way follow Universal Grammar

Children instinctively know what is important in language without necessary parental aid

Ex: Child says, “want coat” or “my cookie”

instead of other missing words such as “I want my coat” or “That is my cookie”

Critical Period Hypothesis(Dr. Eric Lenneberg)

Period in child development (3-11 years) when if given the correct stimulus a child can develop a first language.

If language is introduced after this critical period, child may never develop mastery over any language.

Feral Children can not develop abstract word usage

Feral Children:“Genie” & Oksana

Genie(California), feral child rescued at 13, was able to develop some language skills after the critical period, but limited mastery and can not think abstractly.

Oksana, feral child rescued at 14, raised by dogs. She was able to learn language but limited usage and vocabulary.

Language & Culture

"I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German

to my horse"

Charles V

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Language determines our experience of reality.

Culture is embedded in language.

No two languages are exactly alike.

Therefore people who speak different languages see the world differently.

Gabri’s Destraction

Sapir-Whorf HypothesisThe “real world” is to a large extent unconsciously built

upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached…We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.

Word Play: What Happens When People Talk, Peter Farb

Bilingual Japanese women were asked:

Real friends should…Help each other (Japanese)

Be very honest (English)

When my wishes conflict with my family…It is a sad time (Japanese)

I do what I want (English)

Lost in translation

FidelityStraight forward word for word translation

Assumes languages correspond to each other word for word

Ignores idioms

TransparencyEmphasis on message, main idea, or emotion of translated passage

Depends on translator’s understanding of original message

Idioms and cultural subtexts might be difficult to translate

Spanish Idioms: Language and Culture

“Dejar la Iglesia en las manos del lutero.”“Putting the Church in the hands of the Lutheran.”

“Como Dios manda.”“How God demands.”

“Arroz con moros”

“Estas Como Miercoles”“You’re being like Wednesday.”

“Para de Friel Huevos”“Stop frying eggs.”

Gender Barrier:You Just Don’t Understand, Deborah Tannen

Women speak forSupport, Intimacy, and Understanding

Men speak for Status, Information, Problem-solving

“Every problem of philosophy is problem of language.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Wittgenstein describes the task of the philosopher:

“Language sets everyone the same traps; it is an immense network of easily accessible wrong turnings. And so we watch one man after another walking down the same paths and we know in advance where he will branch off, where he will walk straight on without noticing the side turning, etc. etc. What I have to do then is erect signposts at all the junctions where there are wrong turn so as to help people past the danger points.”

What did you we learn today?Key Concepts

What is language?

Critical Period

“Universal Grammar”

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Words as Cultural Prototypes

ReferencesAristotle, Rhetoric

Fann, William Edwin. “Fundamental– The Language Instinct of Steven Pinker”. The American Journal of Psychology. Vol. 152

Hadley, Gregory. “Lexis and Culture: Bound and Determined?”, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. Vol. 26. No. 4, 1997.

Pines, Maya. “The Civilizing of Genie”. Teaching Through the Disciplines.

Tannen, Deborah, You Just Don’t Understand. Ballantine Books, New York. 1991.

Hungarian Phrasebook

Feral children