Using language

Important lessons have been learned from attempts to teach chimpanzees how to use forms of language. We have answered some questions. Were Washoe and Kanzi capable of taking part in interaction with humans by using a symbol system chosen by humans and not chimpanzees? The answer is clearly “Yes.” Did Washoe and Kanzi go on to perform linguistically on a level comparable to a human child about to begin pre-school? The answer is just as clearly “No.” In arriving at these answers, we have also had to face the fact that, even with our list of key properties, we still don’t seem to have a non-controversial definition of what counts as “using language.”

One solution might be to stop thinking of language, at least in the phrase “using language,” as a single thing that one can either have or not have. We could then say that there are (at least) two ways of thinking about what “using language” means. In a very broad sense, language does serve as a type of communication system that can be observed in a variety of different situations. In one situation, we look at the behavior of a two-year-old human child interacting with a caregiver as an example of “using language” in the broad sense. In another situation, we observe very similar behavior from chimpanzees and bonobos when they are interacting with humans they know. It has to be fair to say that, in both cases, we observe the participants “using language.” However, there is a difference. Underlying the two-year-old’s communicative activity is the capacity to develop a highly complex system of sounds and structures, plus a set of computational procedures, that will allow the child to produce extended discourse containing a potentially infinite number of novel utterances. No other creature has been observed “using language” in this sense. It is in this more fundamental or abstract sense that we say that language is uniquely human. In the following chapters, we will begin to look in detail at the many elements that make up this uniquely human phenomenon.

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اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

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قسم الشؤون الطبية يواصل تنظيم ورش تدريبية لرفع كفاءة المنتسبين في الإسعافات الأولية

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

خصوصا مع تقدم السن.. 6 سلوكيات يومية قد تدمّر صحتك

فاكهة خضراء.. علاج طبيعي فعّال للإمساك واضطرابات الهضم

روسيا تبدأ أولى التجارب السريرية للقاح واعد ضد السرطان

كنز غذائي على طبقك.. ماذا تفعل السبانخ بجسمك؟

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

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روسيا تخطط لإقامة محطة نووية في القمر خلال العقد المقبل

كيف قاد إيلون ماسك حملة "غروك" لاختراق عرش الذكاء الاصطناعي

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المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Conceptual Metaphor Theory

What is metaphor?

Can the distinction be maintained between Conventional and non-conventional language use?

Literal and figurative language as complex concepts

Literal versus figurative language

Metaphor and metonymy

Categorisation and idealised cognitive models Summary

The structure of ICMs

Addressing the problems with prototype theory

Radial categories as a further source of typicality effects

Sources of typicality effects

The theory of idealised cognitive models