Language & the Mind Animal LING240 • Are we special among species? Summer Session II 2005 • What are other species capable of?

• Are language-learning abilities Lecture 2 related to general cognitive & capacities? Human Instincts • Could language have evolved gradually?

Naturally-Occurring Systems Vervet Monkey Alarm Calls • 3 classes of predators • Monkey alarm calls • 3 distinct alarm calls • Packmates respond appropriately even if predator • Bee Dance is not visible • Loud bark (leopard alarm) = run for tree • Birdsong • “cough” (eagle alarm) = rush into the bushes • “chutter” (snake alarm) = stand up & scan ground

Dance of the Honeybees What a vervet cannot express ‘deciphered’ by Karl von Frisch, 1919 & onward Under 50 m away Over 50 m away: encodes distance • “I saw a snake near that tree just the & direction - is other day, so watch your feet.” encoding of 2D • Conveys location of space (a bee’s source of “mental map”) • “Where did you say that leopard was?” nectar - every message is unique • “Can you say that again? - I didn’t hear you.”

1 Honeybee What a honeybee cannot express Conversations • “There’s going to be some great • Honeybees can express more than nectar at this really nice spot I know vervets - but the conceptual content soon since the flowers are all in is always “the location of what we bloom.” are all looking for right now” • “I saw a really swank hive a little ways from here - we should totally take over and get ourselves some better digs.”

Sparrow Song Variation in Sparrow Song

Bird 1 Bird 2 song call

• Song is highly structured - notes, syllables, phrases • Regional variation • Sensitive period • Fixed meaning

Dialects of the White-Crowned Sparrow (Marler, 1970)

2 Nature & Nurture Features of Human Language

• So birdsong seems to have both an • Creativity innate component and a learned • Arbitrariness component • Systematicity (e.g. word order, structure) • We still classify it as an instinct • Displaced reference • Pretense

Some Thoughts Teaching Human-like Language

• Animal communication systems are quite • Can other species master properties varied of human language such as… • Many features of human language found in other species – sounds • Features of human language never combined – arbitrary words/signs to refer to object in other species – systematic combinations of signs • Extent of human linguistic creativity far – creative use of sign combinations surpasses any other species • Are humans unique in the ability to do • But… interesting lessons for human language this? from studying related systems, e.g. birdsong

Alex

• Grey , born 1976 • Grey parrot, born 1976 • Trained by Dr Irene Pepperberg (U. • Trained by Dr Irene Pepperberg (U. Arizona) since 1977 Arizona) since 1977 • Impressive ability to speak/understand • Impressive ability to speak/understand …for a parrot …for a parrot

3 Alex’s Language Washoe & Nim Chimpsky

• Speech sounds remarkably accurate • Apes taught modified sign language …produced very differently from humans in 1960s & 1970s • Knows names of 100+ objects plus some fixed expressions • Answers simple questions about objects (e.g. about size, color, material) • Requires immense amounts of training

Washoe & Nim Chimpsky Kanzi

• Benobo (‘pygmy chimp’) • Learned many signs • Born 1980 • Yerkes Regional Primate Center, Atlanta • Able to combine signs Trained by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh & • Sign combinations lacked systematic others use of word order etc. • Grew up with an adult benobo, who was being trained to communicate with • Impressive, but far behind 2-year olds ‘pictograms’, with little success • Kanzi quickly surpassed his guardian

Kanzi Creativity in Human Language • Animal languages have a fixed, limited range of messages (vervet • Pictograms remove articulation calls, bee dance, bird song) difficulty • Human language is infinitely creative • Impressive creativity and • Increased expressive power of human systematicity - best shown to-date language is not just a difference of degree - human language is • Still falls short of 2-year olds fundamentally different

4 Creativity in Human Language Language vs. Communication

• Creativity of human language results • Communication: conveying information between a from its combinatorial properties messenge-sender and a message-receiver

• Small number of memorized “pieces” • Language: one type of communication system yield vast range of possible messages used by human beings, and the only one we are aware of in any species that takes a finite number • Human “pieces” are sounds, words, of “pieces” and combines them with a finite set of and phrases combinatorial rules to yield an infinite number of messages about any topic.

So what is it that humans learn? So what is it that humans learn?

Option 1: Option 2: • Other species can master the • Very little - similar to teaching bees the rudiments of human language bee dance! • Human language is not a major • Other species are not ‘designed’ for departure from other species human language • Evolutionary precursors to human • Learn how human instincts work by language studying humans!

Some More Thoughts Someone Else’s Thoughts

• Examination of other species clarifies how The fact that a dog can be trained to walk on its hind unusual human language is legs does not prejudice the claim that bipedal gait is • Other species have interesting genetically coded in humans. The fact that we can communicative tricks - different from ours learn to whistle like a lark does not prejudice the species-specificity of birdsong. • Some species can learn some impressive ‘language tricks’ … doesn’t teach us much (Fodor, Bever & Garrett, 1974 about how human language works The Psychology of Language)

5 So let’s talk about this Why do humans have language? “instinct” thing… • Bats use sonar to echolocate; homing • Because we’re smarter than other animals? pigeons know where home is; deer rub • Because we have a bigger brain? antlers against trees; spiders spin webs; • Because our mouths have a special shape? dolphins play; some primates walk • Because somebody took the time to teach • Special properties of individual species, not us? related to “general intelligence”, develop automatically • Another “instinct”: human language • …or because that’s just something that humans do?

Why call language an instinct? Why call language an instinct?

• Species specificity • Species specificity • Uniformity throughout human species • Uniformity throughout human species • Humans spontaneously create languages • Humans spontaneously create languages • Independence from other mental abilities • Independence from other mental abilities • Sensitive period for learning language • Sensitive period for learning language

Species Specificity The point

“We may not be able to take flight by flapping our upper extremities, but we are the only species known that can • Other species simply can’t learn rationally discuss our inability to do so.” human language -Stephen Anderson, Doctor Dolittle’s • The communication systems of other Delusion animals are not even remotely as complex as human language.

6 Why call language an instinct? Uniformity

• Species specificity • All humans master a human language … • Uniformity throughout human species except in extreme circumstances • Humans spontaneously create languages • Independence from other mental abilities • Sensitive period for learning language • All human languages are remarkably similar in their basic properties.

Uniformity Why call language an instinct? • All human languages are able to express an infinite number of never-before-expressed • Species specificity sentences • Uniformity throughout human species • Humans spontaneously create languages • All are able to express ideas of a similar level of complexity • Independence from other mental abilities • Sensitive period for learning language • Even the form of languages seems to vary in restricted ways

Humans Spontaneously Create Something heard & learned… Language: Everyday cases • Poverty of the Stimulus: Every child • Who did Jareth see Sarah with in his has to go beyond the data heard in crystal? the environment.

• Children acquire many linguistic generalizations that experience could not have made available

7 Something unheard but still Every child has to go beyond learned… the environment • *Who did Jareth see Sarah and in his • Children cannot hear every possible sentence crystal? of their native language

• Children never hear impossible sentences

• Both of these sets are infinitely large, yet we all end up generally agreeing about which ones are possible and which ones are impossible

Children spontaneously create Children create their own system language: Extreme cases “It breaked.” • Input is totally absent - home sign systems of deaf children “Don’t giggle me!” • Input is inconsistent - Simon “Does she doesn’t like that?” • Input is not a full language - pidgins and “What she does eat?” creoles

Children spontaneously create Simon (Singleton & Newport) Input: language: Extreme Cases - Parents were late learners of ASL - Parents used required ASL verb inflections 60% of • Input is totally absent - home sign the time (either omitted them or used the wrong ones) systems of deaf children - In school, only exposed to a signed English system

Output: • Input is inconsistent - Simon - As good as “native of native” children on most aspects of ASL inflection - Simon’s own use of verbs of motion surpasses the • Input is not a full language - pidgins and performance of his parents creoles - Simon does not acquire the “noise” of his parents - he regularizes the irregular input from his parents.

8 Pidgins & Creoles: The Children spontaneously create Case of Nicaraguan Sign language: Extreme Cases Language • 1977: Center for special education opened (100 children by • Input is totally absent - home sign 1979) systems of deaf children • 1980: Vocational school for adolescents opened (400 students in the two schools by 1983) • 1986: Social club for deaf adolescents and adults formed (by 1990, this was the National Association of Deaf • Input is inconsistent - Simon Nicaraguans) • “First Cohort” of children formed a pidgin based on their collective homesign systems: Lenguaje de Signos Nicaraguense (LSN) • Input is not a full language - pidgins and • “Second Cohort” received pidgin LSN as input and nativized creoles this “inconsistent and insufficient input” to produce a creole: Idioma de Signos Nicaraguense (ISN)

Nicaraguan Sign Language: A Test of Performance

• 25 children, aged 7-31 yrs at time of testing • Age of entry into community: – Young (birth to 6;6), n=8 – Medium (6;7 to 10;0), n=8 – Old (10;1 to 27;5), n= 9 • Year of entry into community: – Before 1983 – 1983 or earlier

To Sum Up

• Signers who entered the community at a younger age… – Express more events overall – Express more verbs per unit of time – Inflect more verbs (location, person, number, agreement) – Use more classifiers (size-and-shape, object- category) – Use fewer pantomined (body-anchored) gestures

9 Why call language an instinct? Language & General Intelligence

• Species specificity • Good language with poor overall cognitive profile: • Uniformity throughout human species – Williams Syndrome • Humans spontaneously create languages • Poor language with good overall cognitive • Independence from other mental abilities profile: – Pure Word Deafness • Sensitive period for learning language – Broca’s Aphasia – Specific Language Impairment. • “Double Dissociation” argument

Williams Syndrome Cognitive Characteristics of Williams Syndrome • Low general IQ (50-60) • Poor math • Poor visuospatial reconstruction abilities • Good language • Often good with music • Highly social Severe impairments, Good language

Copying Simple Pictures Model

Model

Williams Age 11;1 WS KBIT 70 (RA) Age 11

Williams Age 9;1 WS KBIT 77 (AS) Age 11

Control Control Age 6;1 Age 6 KBIT 122 (BD)

10 Describing Complex Pictures Pure Word Deafness

Auditory Object Recognition

Auditory Input

Auditory Word Recognition “Bill is looking at the cow that the boy is pointing, and Max is looking at the cow that the girl is pointing at.” Normally functioning people, (WS, IQ approx. 40) Unable to hear words (Zukowski 2001)

Broca’s Aphasia Broca’s Aphasia • Identified 1861, Paul Broca • Patient “Tan”: intelligent, good language comprehension, severe speech deficit • Died soon afterwards: brain showed selective damage at junction of frontal, parietal, temporal lobes, left hemisphere

Broca’s Aphasia - Production Broca’s Aphasia - Comprehension

Typical clinical symptoms of Broca’s aphasics: 1a. “The cat chased the dog.” active “Yes ... Monday ... Dad, and Dad ... hospital, 1b. “The cat was chased by the dog.” passive and ... Wednesday, Wednesday, nine o’clock and ... Thursday, ten o’clock ... doctors, two, 2a. “I showed her baby pictures.” ambiguous two ... doctors and ... teeth, yah. And a doctor ... girl, and gums, and I.” “Me ... build-ing ... chairs, no, no cab-in-ets. 2b. “I showed her baby the pictures.” unambiguous One, saw ... then, cutting wood ... working ...” 2c. “I showed her the baby pictures.” unambiguous ‘Function Words’

11 Specific Language Impairment Why call language an instinct?

• Genetic disorder, currently poorly understood • Species specificity • Good general cognitive abilities, poor language • Uniformity throughout human species “It’s a flying finches, they are.” “She remembered when she hurts herself the • Humans spontaneously create languages other day.” • Independence from other mental abilities “The neighbors phone the ambulance because • Sensitive period for learning language the man fall off the tree.” “The boys eat four cookie.” “Carol is cry in the church.”

Sensitive Period for What is a “sensitive” or Learning Language “critical” period? • Language learning is effortless before “A period of development during which puberty, extremely effortful later in life some crucial experience will have its • Applies to both first and second peak effect on development or language learning learning, resulting in normal behavior • Applies to spoken and signed languages attuned to the particular environment • Sensitive periods familiar from to which the organism has been ‘instincts’ in other species exposed.” - Newport

Examples of critical periods in Examples of critical periods in other species other species

• Species: ducks • Species: White-crowned sparrow • What they learn: their species’ mating song • What they learn: attachment to their (from hearing adults sing it) mothers (imprinting) • Critical period for “learning”: • Critical period for this “learning”: - 7-60 days after birth (to fully acquire song) - 9-21 hours after hatching - 60-100 days after birth (to acquire skeletal basics of song) - After 21 hours, less likely to form an - After 100 days of age, bird will never sing attachment normally

12 A critical period for FIRST Case Studies: Isabelle language acquisition (Davis, 1947) • Case Studies: • Family background: Hidden in attic - Isabelle by deranged mother, never spoken to - Genie - Chelsea • Discovered at age 6: had no speech, at cognitive level of 2 year old • A special population: deaf children born to • Outcome: Within 1 year, she caught hearing parents up with other 7 year olds

Case Studies: Genie Case Studies: Chelsea (Curtiss, 1977) (Curtiss, 1989)

• Family background: From 18 months onward, lived • Family background: A partially deaf woman tied to a chair in a darkened room, frequenty incorrectly diagnosed as “retarded” beaten, never spoken to • Discovered at age 31, and fitted with hearing aids • Discovered at age 13, had no speech • Outcome: Learned a large vocabulary, but syntax • Outcome: Learned a large vocabulary, but syntax and morphology even worse than Genie and morphology never fully developed

• “Breakfast eating girl” • “Man motorcycle have” • “Banana the eat” • “Genie full stomach” • “Want Curtiss play piano”

A Special Population: Deaf A Special Population: Deaf children born to hearing parents children born to hearing parents (Newport, 1990) (Newport, 1990)

• Examined ASL proficiency in people who • Basic result: Before age 6 > After age had been using ASL for 30 years 12

• But different ages of first exposure to ASL: – Native/early learners: between birth and age 6 • One Exception: Word order uniformly – Late learners: after age 12 good for all learners

13 A Critical Period for SECOND Language Acquisition (Johnson Test from Johnson and Newport, 1989) and Newport (1989)

• Examined English proficiency in Korean • Hear recorded sentences & judge and Chinese immigrants to the U.S. who whether GOOD or BAD had lived here at least 5 years “The farmer bought two pig at the market.” • Again, different ages of first exposure “Tom is reading book in bathtub.” (anywhere between 3 and 39 years old)

Results: Second Sum Up: Critical Period Language Acquisition • Language learning is effortless before puberty, extremely effortful after • Applies to both first and second language learning • Applies to spoken and signed languages • Critical periods familiar from biologically- programmed abilities in other species

Concluding Thoughts But…

• Language is specific to humans, and • Identifying language as a human extremely uniform among humans instinct is just the first step • Humans create language without instruction • Language abilities are partly independent • It tells us nothing about how this of other cognitive abilities instinct works, how it develops, how it • Language learning requires a young brain is encoded in the brain or in the • Thefore…language seems to have the genome... properties of an ‘instinct’

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