The study of language by Yule
Unit 2; Animals and human language
1. Glossolalia: speaking in tongues
2. Types of signals: communicative, informative
* Communicative: convey information intentionally, e.g. bird's song, deaf people
* Informative: convey information potentially
3. Unique properties of human language:
* Arbitrariness: no natural relationship between linguistic form and its meaning. (they are arbitrarily or conventionally related)
Sound symbolism: the pronunciation suggests the meaning. E.g. onomatopic (mimetic words)
* Displacement: ability to talk about past and future and things like myth.
* Productivity: creativity, openness; making new words and phrases
* Recursion: allows phrases to extend by expression of phrases within them. In contrast with fixed-referenced.
* Cultural transmission: languages differ from place to place. We are born with predisposition to talk. Lg is not inherited it can be learned. In contrast with innateness.
* Discreteness: An utterance is made up of distinct sounds.
* Double articulation/ duality of patterning: most economical feature of lg BC meaningful wholes are produced by meaningless parts. Lg has been created in two levels simultaneously. At first, producing individual sounds. Then, combine the sounds to produce wholes.
* Grammaticality/ patterning: strict rules. Only certain sounds may be combined in words.
* Reflexiveness: meta language, analyze, describe; Use language to talk about language(lg), distinguishing
4. Properties similar between human and animal language:
* Vocal auditory: communication signals are generated via vocal organs and perceived with ears.
* Reciprocity/ interchangeability: each speaker/ sender can be a listener or receiver.
* Specialization
* Rapid fade/ transitoriness: linguistic signals are produced and disappeared quickly.
* Nondirectionality: Lg signals have no inherent direction.
** lg = language