Language and Linguistics Linguistics: The scientific study of human language, broadly construed –How is language structured? –How do people use language? Psycholinguistics Sociolinguistics –How does language change over time Historical linguistics

Plan for this unit What makes human language unique? What are the basic components of language? Language acquisition (the central issue in all of cognitive science) Language in other species? Language in machines? (Bridge to AI) Anything else I feel like talking about

The Waggle Dance Von Frisch (1967) Worker honeybee communicates to others location of food source Straight run indicates direction Waggle and buzzing indicates distance

Unique Properties of Human Language Displacement –Ability to communicate about stuff displaced in time, space, reality, etc… Semanticity –Language can be used to convey virtually any meaning, not simply those necessary for survival Generativity –Infinite number of sentences from finite set of words and set of rules used to combine those words

Components of Human Language Phonology: The sounds of the language, phonemes Morphology: Smallest units of meaning in language, morphemes Semantics: Meanings of words and sentences Syntax: Rules that govern the ways in which phonemes, morphemes, and words can be combined Pragmatics: The social uses of language

Phonology Study of how speech sounds are produced and perceived Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound in a language that can affect meaning, e.g, /kæt/ vs. /bæt/. English has about 40 Speech sounds are produced by forcing air pass the larynx and through the oral cavity –In vowels, the flow of air is continuous –In consonants, the flow of air is fully or partially blocked

Consonants differ in terms of the following three dimensions Place of articulation: where the flow of air is interrupted Manner of articulation: how the flow of air is interrupted (e.g. completely or partially) Voicing: whether the vocal cords are vibrating when the consonant is produced