1S.P.N 7 Psycholinguistics Design Features of Language Hocket stated that human language has certain design features that NO system of animal communication possesses. ¥ Universality Each person speaks a language. It’s wrong to think that a single culture uses a single language and a complex culture uses a complex language. The only sense in which a language is simple, concerns vocabulary. It is obvious that a Language whose speakers discuss philosophical issues or science has more words than a Language whose speakers are entirely devoted to fishing and hunting. With this one exception, it is QUITE wrong to suppose that a simple culture will also have a simple language. The language is communication by means of signals; we have informative signals and communicative signals. Y¥ Relatedness Language changes and different languages are related to one another in different degrees. Between two Languages the resemblances are so extensive that they cannot be attributed to chance or to parallel development. It has been discovered that all the languages have a common ancestor: the Proto- Indo-European language. This was the great discovery of the 19" century. It’s the comparative method of studying the relation between two languages to see the changes English is an Indo-European language of the Germanic branch and has had significant contributions from other IE languages. mans lg ve tater Renaseances Spats “ wera ind an Anges Sasces. ates Haves Frans -aruscan Enghsn Laan, Greek Canadian Engh a Hanan French French alan usatan Engh ade st Erich Celts ehaucer“— Shakoopeue ont Engin Oo sy. Suetish, Ash Scoltat Engst joe fa cane a, et aa teen BCE weitary ently centuny ce ce ce Engin Mvsin Eogish Lic. Prof. Javier Majul Prof. Jesica AlvadoLS.P.N 7 Psycholinguist v Diversity Languages are not homogeneous. Language varies along several dimensions: time, place, situation and society. That’s why they are under synchronical and diachronical study. Diachronically: study the changes of a language in a period of time Synchronically: study a particular language at a given period of time ¥ Productivity and Creativity Itis a ruled governed property of a Language System which enables native speakers to construct and understand an indefinite number of utterances he’s never encountered before. This explained why a Language cannot be learned by imitation or memorization. Productivity + Personal style equals what Lyons called Creativity. v Duality Language is organized at two levels (this is called double articulation) : level of sounds (phonemes) a small arrangement of distinguishable sounds which are in themselves wholly meaningless, and level of meaning (morphemes) they constitute an enormous stock of meaningful elements. In this way, Language achieves a basic economy because a discrete number of functional units can be grouped and re-grouped into units of meanings and then these units of meanings can be grouped an re-grouped into infinite number of sentences. To say it in others words, indefinitely many formal distinct utterances can be constructed in any natural language out of a small set of phonological elements (finite). ¥ Learnability This is the property that makes it possible for any human beings to learn in childhood any Language equally well, provided that he is not physically or psychologically defective in some way and provided that he is exposed to the sample of the Language in question under the appropriate environmental condition. According to Chomsky there is an innate capacity to speak that is genetically transmitted and which conforms what he calls UG (Universal Grammar). So we develop that capacity by Uc. Prof. Javier Maju Prof. Jesica AlvadoLS.P.N 7 Psycholinguistics means of LU, parents and we learn the lexicon of our native Language and everything that has to do with social convention. Eg; gestures, body language. ¥ Redundancy Languages are redundant. People repeat information and the speaker should always be sure that the message is clear and easily understood by the hearer. v Medium Here speech and writing comes into consideration. Traditional grammar tended to assume that the spoken Language was inferior to and in some sense depending upon the standard written Language. However, ( certain standard Language was given in Latin by Virgil and Cicero. The grammatical standard level of Language was too high so speech was considered sub-standard) However contemporary Linguistics maintains that spoken Language is primary and that writing is essentially a means of representing speech in another medium. Speech is older and more widespread than writing. The evidence is that there is not groups of people known to exist or to have existed without the capacity of speech and many Languages have never had a writing system until they were committed to writing by missionaries or linguists. No writing system represents all the variation of pitch and stress which are present in spoken utterances. The information that gestures and facial expressions conveyed is missed in writing. ¥ Interchangeability (Encoding and decoding) Individuals who use a language can both send and receive any permissible message within that communication system. We can be senders and receivers. v Feedback This feature depends upon interchangeability. Users of a language can perceive what they are transmitting and make corrections if they make errors. They are able to monitor what they are communicating. (We control our speech trough feedback so a speaker hears and is able to monitor his own performance.) Y Specialization Only humans have specialized language. This means that the organs used for producing speech are specially adapted for that task. Moreover, communicating Uc. Prof. Javier Majul Prof. Jesica AlvadoLS.P.N 7, Psycholinguistics organism should not have a total physical involvement in the act of communication. They should not have to stop what they are doing to make a response, should not be the response totally determinedly the stimulus. We can talk which we are engaged in another activity totally unrelated to the point under discussion. Eg; a bee is totally involved physically in the communication process. Y Discreteness This means that the basic units of speech can be categorized as belonging to distinct categories. Every sound in English is distinct. Y Prevarication This feature refers to the possibility of using the semiotic system to misinform or deceive somebody Linguistic messages can be false, deceptive, or meaningless. We can lie, misinform or tell falsehood. It’s against the principles of communication. Y Linge Change A language can be studied diachronically; is taking into account its particular development through time historically, or synchronically; is taking into account a Particular state of that Language at some point in time. Synchronic statement should make no reference to previous statement in the Language. Meet and meat are homophones in current English, now itis irrelevant for such a statement about modern English that they were pronounced differently in the past. Valid diachronic work must be based on good synchronic way. Y Displacement Linguistic messages may refer to things remote in time and space, from the site of the communication. We can refer to past, present or future. Spacio-temporal situations should be shared by the listener of the speaker. Exceptions to these are tape phone conversations or talking to oneself. Arbitrariness and Conventionallity Nowadays nobody would maintain that the correlation of a particular word and a particular meaning is not arbitrary and sometimes called conventional. The tie or link between the form and the meaning, that is to say, between expression and content is absolutely arbitrary. This can be demonstrated just by looking at different words that refer to the same thing from different languages. Eg: tree (English), arbol (Espafiol), baum ( German), arbae ( French). This encourages the view that the vocabulary of a Lic. Prof. Javier Majul Prof. lesica Alvado1SP.N7|5 Psycholinguistics language is essentially a list of names that are associated by convention with independently existing things or meanings. There is no necessary correlation between words. The word ‘whale’ is a small word for a big object which microorganism is the reverse. On the other hand there is no iconicity (that is to say: one to one correspondence) in language. In the case of the bee dance, for eg; we can say that is iconic rather than arbitrary because it rather directly represents its subject matter since there exists a direct connection between the dance itself and the source of nectar in the number and direction of the movements the bee makes. Language, on the contrary is almost entirely non-iconic. Eg the English number system is 1,2,3....so on. But not |, Il, Ill and so on. Vv Reflexivity This refers to the fact that we can use Language to talk about or describe Language. Language is its own metalanguage. (We can talk about talking.) ¥ Semanticity This feature refers to the capacity of all elements in a language to change meaning. Each word has its semantic role. v Rapid Fade Messages don’t linger in time or space after production. Words can appear and disappear rapidly. Y Cultural Trans jon The question is whether the Language is genetically or culturally transmitted. The truth is that Language is an intrinsic aspect of our human inheritance. The rule seems to be if you are human you will become in the natural course of events a language- user very rapidly. The capacity to acquire-rather to develop Language is in our genes. However the detailed conventions (that is to say socio-cultural conventions and lexicon as well) of any-one language are transmitted extra-genetically by learning and teaching. They are not biologically transmitted from generation to generation. A language is transmitted from people to people, from one culture to another culture. Animal systems of communication on the other hand are genetically transmitted. Lic, Prof, Javier Majut Prof. Jesica AlvadoLSP.N7| 6 Psycholinguisties ¥ Vocal Auditory Channel This means that human linguistic communication occurs as a vocal type of communication which is perceived by hearing it. Exceptions: writing and sign language. Y Reciprocity Any speaker/sender of a linguistic signal can also be a listener/receiver. Y Non-directionality Linguistic signals can be picked up by anyone within hearing, even unseen. Lic, Prof. Javier Majul Prof. Jesica Alvado