c


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TESC ͻ E&W Studies

 




The goals for this week are to: 1) examine the specific differences between human language
and animal communication; 2) learn how productivity in language is related to the hierarchical
structure that characterizes all sentences 3) practice analyzing sentences in to their constituent
phrases and categories.





Language Files: Files 11.3, 11.4; Ch. 14

Pinker: Chapters 2, 11





 

Language Files: 14.4 ʹ

 





1. In your opinion, what kind or kinds of evidence would provide conclusive proof that animals
communicate with a system like human language? In other words, what feature or features
of human language separate it from other communication systems found in nature? Is it
possible to state this in terms of difference in kind or type, or is human linguistics
communication only different in degree?

2. Suppose Washoe were to successfully pass such a language test. What would this tell us
about the answers to the following questions:
a. Is the capacity for language acquisition innate?
b. Is the capacity for language acquisition specific to the human species?
c. Is the capacity for language acquisition innate in the human species?

3. If humans started building nests, living in trees, eating worms, and singing songs at daybreak,
what would you conclude about the status of these behaviors with respect to innateness in
birds?

4. A common view opposing the innateness hypothesis can be characterized as follows: ͞There
is no innate language faculty (UG). That is, the human brain is not specially adapted for
language. Rather, it is just very sophisticated, and we humans are very smart. When our
intelligence is applied to the problem of learning language, fueled by our intense desire to
communicate, we learn languageͶjust as we would solve any other difficult intellectual
problem under similar circumstances.͟ How are Pinker͛s stories about Mr. Ford, the K͛s,
Denyse, and Crystal problematic for this counter-hypothesis?
 c



 

 

a)Y adaptive complexity j)Y language acquisition

b)Y natural selection k)Y Great Chain of Being

c)Y adaptation vs. exaptation l)Y Homo erectus

d)Y gradualism m)Y Homo habilis

e)Y genetic variation n)Y Austrilopithecus afarensis

f)Y iconicity o)Y Charles Darwin

g)Y transparent p)Y Apparent design

h)Y translucent

i)Y opaque