1. Chapter 10
Language and Thought

2. Language Language Phoneme
our spoken, written, or gestured works and the way we combine them to communicate meaning
Phoneme
in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

3. Language Morpheme Grammar
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning
may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
Grammar
a system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate with and understand others

4. Language Semantics Syntax
the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language
also, the study of meaning
Syntax
the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language

5. Language We are all born to recognize speech sounds from
all the world’s languages
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
Percentage able
to discriminate
Hindi t’s
Hindi-
speaking
adults
6-8
months
8-10
10-12
English-
Infants from English-speaking homes

6. Language Babbling Stage One-Word Stage beginning at 3 to 4 months
the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
One-Word Stage
from about age 1 to 2
the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in single words

7. Language Two-Word Stage Telegraphic Speech beginning about age 2
the stage in speech development during which a child speaks in mostly two-word statements
Telegraphic Speech
early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram-–“go car”--using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words

8. Language Summary of Language Development Month (approximate) Stage 410 12 24
24+
Babbles many speech sounds.
Babbling reveals households
language.
One-word stage.
Two-world, telegraphic speech.
Language develops rapidly into
complete sentences.

9. Language
Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience activates them as it modifies the brain

10. Language New language learning gets harder with age 100 90 80 70 60 50
Native
3-7
8-10
11-15
17-39
Percentage
correct on
grammar
test
Age at school
New language learning gets harder with age

11. Language Linguistic Determinism
Whorf”s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

12. Language
The interplay of thought and language

13. Animal Thinking and Language
Direction of
nectar source
The straight-line part of the dance points in the direction of a nectar source, relative to the sun

14. Animal Thinking and Language
Gestured Communication

15. Animal Thinking and Language
Is this really language?