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English 306A; Harris Everything has meaning. Everything.

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Presentation on theme: "English 306A; Harris Everything has meaning. Everything."— Presentation transcript:

1 English 306A; Harris Everything has meaning. Everything.

2 English 306A; Harris All meaning involves both information and emotion

3 English 306A; Harris Language Humans are built to accommodate language Language has some special properties that shape us as humans

4 English 306A; Harris We’re mammals Distinctive traits include Lactation Mammalian “isolation cry” Neoteny Middle ear Larynx

5 English 306A; Harris We have special larynxes Functions Controls airflow Phonates

6 English 306A; Harris We have special larynxes Functions Controls airflow Phonates (Glottis)

7 English 306A; Harris Glottis Air flow Phonation (voicing)

8 English 306A; Harris Glottis Air flow Phonation (voicing)

9 English 306A; Harris Larynx, tongue, Heimlich Apes, australopithecus, babies Tongue rooted in mouth Larynx behind mouth Can breathe and swallow at the same time Adult homo erecti + Tongue rooted in throat Larynx in throat Cannot breathe and swallow at the same time

10 English 306A; Harris Lower tongue root + larynx = Consonants and vowels (big flappy lips help too) Syllables Patterns of rhythm and modulation

11 English 306A; Harris Lower tongue root + larynx = Speech

12 English 306A; Harris Oh, and one more thing

13 English 306A; Harris Oh, and one more thing A brain

14 English 306A; Harris Oh, and one more thing Auditory cortex Broca’s area Wernicke’s area Motor cortex

15 English 306A; Harris Motor cortex

16 English 306A; Harris Auditory cortex Tuned to language Highly sensitive in the 5,000 - 20,000 Hz range Discriminates phoneme boundaries

17 English 306A; Harris Language areas Broca’s area Wernicke’s area ‘Conceptual’ ‘Grammatical’

18 English 306A; Harris Language properties Parity Universality Mutability Tacitness Displacement Duality Productivity (creativity)

19 English 306A; Harris Parity All languages are equal.

20 English 306A; Harris Universality All grammars share some basic properties. Words Nouns Verbs Sentences Assertions Questions Semantic roles Agents Patients Locations

21 English 306A; Harris Mutability Languages change.  cool  neat  groovy  far-out  radical  cool 

22 English 306A; Harris Tacitness A great deal of grammatical knowledge is tacit knowledge. [p] vs [p h ] vs [p ¬ ]

23 English 306A; Harris Charles Hockett’s ‘Design Features’ Parity Universality Mutability Tacitness Displacement Duality Productivity (creativity)

24 English 306A; Harris Charles Hockett’s ‘Design Features’ There is...a sense in which [productivity], displacement, and duality...can be regarded as the crucial, or nuclear, or central properties of human language.

25 English 306A; Harris Charles Hockett’s ‘Design Features’ There is...a sense in which [productivity], displacement, and duality...can be regarded as the crucial, or nuclear, or central properties of human language.

26 English 306A; Harris Displacement Messages can refer to things remote in time and space, or both, from the site of the communication.

27 English 306A; Harris Duality of patterning At every level: elements and combinatorics Sounds combine into syllables and morphemes Morphemes combine into words Words combine into phrases and sentences Sentences combine into turns or paragraphs Turns combine into conversations Paragraphs combine into texts

28 English 306A; Harris Elements + combinatorics = Productivity (creativity) New vocables New words New sentences New meanings

29 English 306A; Harris Elements + combinatorics = Language

30 English 306A; Harris Language has special properties General Parity Mutability Universality Tacitness Conceptual Displacement Duality of patterning Elements and combinatorics Productivity

31 English 306A; Harris Humans have special properties Humans are wired for language Hardwired (anatomical) Throat, mouth, lips Ear Motor, auditory cortex Language areas Softwired (conceptual) Displacement Duality of patterning Productivity

32 English 306A; Harris Any questions? Humans are built to accommodate language Language has some special properties that shape us as humans


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