Transcript Slide 1

University of Split
Danica Škara, PhD
e-mail: [email protected]
Office hours: Wednesday, 15:30-16:30h
LANGUAGE, CULTURE, COGNITION
Week 1:
INTRODUCTION: KEY ISSUES
Language/reality
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In order to survive as
living beings, we must
interact with our
environment.
We develop patterns of
interaction based upon
our bodily capacities (five
senses), our culture and
our language.
Brain/Imagery
What are your five senses?
Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste,
and Smell
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An image conveys a sense
perception , i.e., a visual
picture, a sound, a feeling of
touch, a taste, or an odor
THE HUMAN BRAIN
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The human brain is the center of the human nervous
system and is a highly complex organ. It has the same
general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is
over three times as large as the brain of a typical
mammal with an equivalent body size. Especially
expanded are the frontal lobes, which are involved in
executive functions such as self-control, planning,
reasoning, and abstract thought. The portion of the brain
devoted to vision is also greatly enlarged in human
beings.
‘The mind is a connecting organ..’
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Everything we experience is reflected in the
brain by neurons which communicate to form
what are called neural networks.
The brain is a collection of about 10 billion
interconnected neurons. Each neuron is a
cell [right] that uses biochemical reactions
to receive, process and transmit
information.
The brain creates knowledge /understanding of
the world.
I.A. Richards, (The Philosophy of Rhetoric , Oxford
University Press: New York and London,
1936:125) claims that ‘The mind is a connecting
organ, it works only by connecting and it can connect any
two things in an indefinitely large number of different
ways. ‘
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90cj4NX87
Yk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvxXnQuv
TD8&NR=1
CAT
Humans are very different from other animals!
Exceptional ability to adapt
to local conditions
Humans are better at adapting to a wide range of environments than other creatures
wolves
Apes
lions
Humans are very different from other animals
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They inhabited almost all parts of the globe.
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Every living organism strives to evaluate the
various items in its environment, to discover
which are beneficial, which harmful, so that
advantage may be derived from the one and
injury from the latter avoided.
In addition to the sensorymeans employed in
this evaluating process by other animals, man
employs verbal symbols.
What is Language?
Language, the principal means used by
human beings to communicate with one
another. Language can be spoken or
written .
 “A language is a set (finite or infinite) of
sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of a finite set of
elements.”
Noam Chomsky (1957)
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What is Language?
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“Language is a purely human and noninstinctive method of communicating ideas,
emotions and desires by means of voluntrily
produced symbols.”
Edward Sapir (1921)
What is Language?
A language is a system for encoding and decoding
information.
 Chomsky’s view: Language is a special faculty
apart from other higher faculties, genetically
inherited (innate ability) as a special speciesspecific endowement within the species.
 the term refers to the forms of communication
considered peculiar to humankind.
What is communication?
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Any means by which two (or more) individuals
exchange information
Paralinguistic techniques - hand signals, facial
expressions, body language, nods, smiles, winks, etc.
 Non-linguistic communication - that do involve
vocalization
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Grunts, groans, snorts, sighs, whimpers, etc.
Not all produced sounds are intended to convey
messages, so they aren’t communication
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e.g., snoring
Communication
The Linguistic Sign
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Language is made up of signs, which have little
to do with the referent, the actuasl objects in the
world.
The signs are composed of two parts: the
signifier and the signified (form/content)
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ogden & Richards Triangle
Language as human knowledge
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‘When we study human language, we are approaching
what some might call the “human essence,” the
distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know,
unique to man.’
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Norm Chomsky: Language and Mind
What does knowing a language mean?
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Sound and no sound;
word and non-word;
well-formed sentences and ill-formed sentences
Sense and nonsense
Design Features of Human Language (1)
1. Productivity (creativity)
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Ability to produce and understand a virtually infinite set of
messages.
In all other animal communication systems, the number of
messages is fixed (i.e., is finite).
Design Features of Human Language (2)
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Arbitrariness
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No resemblance between the language signal
and the thing that it represents
“dog”
“pas”
“hund”
“cane”
Design Features of Human Language (3)
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Universality
Wherever human exists, language exists.
 All languages are equally complex and equally capable of
expressing any idea in the universe.
 Similar grammatical categories are found in all languages,
nouns, verbs, gender, time, etc.
 Any normal child, born anywhere in the world, of any racial,
geographical, social, or economic heritage, is capable of
learning any language to which he or she is exposed. The
differences we find among languages can’t be due to
biological reasons.
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Design Features of Human Language (4)
MULTI-DIMENSIONALITY
Human language consists of several levels or
dimensions of knowledge (competences).
1. Phonological knowledge,
2. Lexical knowledge
3. Syntactic knowledge
4. Semantic/conceptual knowledge
Universals & specifics
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If all cultures share certain features of social
organization and behaviour it will not be surprising that
all languages have terms referring to kinships,
posession, war, etc.>cultural universals
Other universals may arise from technological
transmission or from common features of the natural
environment (biological, topographical
terms)>technological universals and the universals of
natural environment
Specifics
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Language reflects cultural, social, political
attitudes.
The language of different cultures do not
have the same vocabulary referring to the
same referent, reality, e.g.
red wine > crno vino,
brown bread >crni kruh.
Even within one language speakers have
different options to refer to the same reality.
One or many conceptual systems
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The first question which arises is whether language is a single conceptual
system or whether there are as many conceptual systems as there are
languages?
A universal conceptual framework which is common to all human
languages
Languages differ in the way they classify experience. Languages have a
tendency to impose structure upon the real world by treating some
distintions as crucial, and ignoring others. Sometimes the motivation is
supplied by cultural norms, rather than by external reality.
The nature of human language
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For centuries, scholars and thinkers have tried to
unravel the nature of human language. Here are
some views:
Pierre Paul Broca, identifies Broca's Area in the
brain's left hemisphere, a region, he says,
controls human grammar and speech. Damage
to Broca's Area impairs the ability to use words
and construct grammatically correct sentences.
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Later, Karl Wernicke, a German doctor, discovers
another area related to language in the left
hemisphere. Patients with injuries to Wernicke's Area
speak fluently and grammatically, but make little or no
sense.
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Philosophers were the first to ponder the roots of
human language.
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau, says that use of words for
communication stems from a desire to express our
emotions.
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Also in the 1700s, J. G. von Herder writes two essays
arguing that human rationality is the basis for
language.
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In 1871, Charles Darwin, writes about a human
"instinct for language" in his book, Descent of Man.
He suggests that language evolved from more
primal communication abilities in other animals.
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Noam Chomsky, a linguist, says humans are born
with an innate, or hardwired, knowledge of a universal
grammar. He observes that all languages share certain
rules.
Researchers continue to ask: Is language a uniquely
human skill?
Steven Pinker
He tries to combine the ideas of Noam Chomsky
and Charles Darwin in his book, The Language
Instinct. He offers an explanation for how natural
selection might have shaped the evolution of
human's "innate grammar."
CULTURE
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Culture - totality of learned, socially transmitted
customs, knowledge, material objects, and
behavior.
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Society - largest form of human group,
consisting of people who share a common
heritage and culture
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Science is not a collection of facts and formulas. It is preeminently a way of dealing with experience.
The purpose of science is to render experience intelligible, i.e. to
assist man to adjust himself to his environment
Science distinguishes living beings on the one hand and an
external world independent of living organisms, on the other.
Reality in this context consists of the organisms' interaction with
the external world.
On the perceptual level reality is analysed into sense
impressions-odors, tastes, colours, sounds, etc.
On the conceptual level it is analysed with symbolic
instrumentsWe use words, mathematical symbols, etc.
Culture
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Webster's definition:
The cultivation of soil.
2. The raising, improvement, or development of
some plant, animal or product".
This use of the word has its roots in the
ancient Latin word cultura, "cultivation" or
"tending," and its entrance into the English
language had begun by the year 1430 (Oxford
1.
English
Dictionary).
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‘Culture may be defined as the totality of the mental and
physical reactions and activities that characterizes the
behaviour of the individuals composing a social group
collectivelly and individually in relation to their natural
environment, to other groups, to members of the group
itself and of each individual to himself. It also includes
the products of these activities and their role in the life of
the groups.’ (Boas, 1963:149)
Networks connecting individuals, groups, organizations and societies.
Source: Van Dijk 2001/2003
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In attempting to lay out the various meanings attached to the word
"culture," Clifford Geertz refers to the important anthropological
work, Clyde Kluckhohn's Mirror for Man, in which the following
meanings are suggested:
1. "the total way of life of a people“
2. "the social legacy the individual acquires from his group“
3. "a way of thinking, feeling, and believing“
4. "an abstraction from behavior“
5. a theory on the part of the anthropologist about the way in which a
group of people in fact behave
6. a "storehouse of pooled learning“
7. "a set of standardized orientations to recurrent problems“
8. "learned behavior“
9. a mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior
10. "a set of techniques for adjusting both to the external
environment and to other men“
11. "a precipitate of history“
12. a behavioral map, sieve, or matrix
Material vs Non-material Culture
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Material culture refers to the physical and/or
technological aspects of the daily life of a society
(ex - food, housing, factories, etc)
Nonmaterial culture refers to the ways in
which material culture is used and to the
customs, beliefs, traditions, ideologies, etc of a
society
Elements of Culture
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Language
Norms
Sanctions
Values
Language is an abstract system of word meanings and
symbols. It includes speech, written characters,
numerals, symbols, and nonverbal gestures and
expressions
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis describes the role of language
in determining our interpretation of reality
LANGUAGE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY
SAPIR- WHORF HYPOTHESIS
The linguistic relativity
principle, or the SapirWhorf hypothesis, is the
idea that differences in the
way languages encode
cultural and cognitive
categories affect the way
people think, so that speakers
of different languages will
tend to think and behave
differently depending on the
language they use.
Writing in 1929, Sapir argued in a classic passage that:
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‘Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the
world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the
mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression
for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality
essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an
incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection.
The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent
unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages
are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social
reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not
merely the same world with different labels attached... We see and hear and
otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our
community predispose certain choices of interpretation.’ (Sapir 1958
[1929], p. 69)
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This position was extended in the 1930s by his student Whorf, who, in
another widely cited passage, declared that:
‘We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types
that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every
observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of
impressions which has to be organized by our minds - and this means largely by the
linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe
significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this
way - an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the
patterns of our language. The agreement is, of course, an implicit and unstated one, but its
terms are absolutely obligatory; we cannot talk at all except by subscribing to the
organization and classification of data which the agreement decrees.’ (Whorf 1940, pp.
213-14; his emphasis)
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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, advances in cognitive psychology and
cognitive linguistics renewed interest in the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
One of those who adopted a more Whorfian approach was George Lakoff.
He argued that language is often used metaphorically and that different
languages use different cultural metaphors that reveal something about how
speakers of that language think. For example, English employs metaphors
likening time with money, whereas other languages may not talk about time in
that fashion. Other linguistic metaphors may be common to most languages
because they are based on general human experience, for example, metaphors
likening up with good and bad with down.
Lakoff also argues that metaphor plays an important part in political debates
where it matters whether one is arguing in favor of the "right to life" or
against the "right to choose"; whether one is discussing "illegal aliens" or
"undocumented workers".
MIND
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Mind is the aspect of intellect and
consciousness experienced as combinations
of thought, perception, memory, emotion,
will, and imagination, including all
unconscious cognitive processes.
Mental faculties
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Thought is a mental process which allows
individuals to model the world, and so to deal with
it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends
and desires.
Words referring to similar concepts and processes
include cognition, idea, and imagination.
Thinking involves the cerebral manipulation of
information, as when we form concepts, engage in
problem solving, reasoning and making decisions.
Linguistic categorization
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Literal and figurative meaning
The most basic or fundamental level of linguistic
description of reality is that of literal terms. Literal
concepts are those entities whose meanings specify
truth conditions for the objects and events that exist
objectively in the world.
In the traditional analyses, words in literal expressions
denote what they mean according to dictionary usage.
Figurative meaning
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Figurative speech is a pervasive imaginative
structure in human understanding of the world
(see Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).
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Metaphor
Metaphors are actually cognitive tools that
help us structure our thoughts and experiences
in the world around us.
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Metaphors
The successful use of metaphor is a matter of perceiving similarities. (Aristotle)
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Within a framework of a cognitive approach to
metaphor, it has been described in terms of transfer
from one cognitive domain (source) to another
(target) domain: Life is a battle. People tend to draw
upon experiences in one area of life in order to give
fresh insights and understanding to experiences in
another.
PATTERNS OF EXPERIENCE IN
PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE
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Languages have a tendency to impose structure upon the real
world by treating some distintions as crucial, and ignoring
others. Sometimes the motivation is supplied by
cultural/social norms, rather than by external reality
SCHEMAS, FRAMES, CONCEPTUAL
DOMAINS ...
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Lakoff (Lakoff and Johnson 1980; Lakoff 1987) >
our worldviews are based largely on different patterns,
frames, schemas, concepts, that provide us with
structure for our thinking.
Allport (1954) notes that knowledge is said to be
clustered; we fit our new experiences into one of our
existing categories.
The task of this patterned behaviour is to provide
maximum information with the least cognitive effort.