04/22/14 Language and Thought

• Language- Our spoken written or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning.
• Phonemes- In a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.
• Morphemes- In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning. (Prefix or Suffix)
• Grammar- A system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate and understand others.
• Semantics- The set of rules bu which we derive meaning in a language.
• Adding ed at the end of words means past tense.
• Syntax- The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences. 
• Language Development
1. Babbling Stage- Starting at 3-4 Months. Infant makes spontaneous sounds.
2. One Word Stage- 1-2 years old. Uses one word to communicate big meanings.
3. Two word Stage- at age 2, uses two words to communicate meanings- called telegraphic speech.
• Skinner
• Thought we can explain language development through social learning theory.
• Chomsky inborn universal Grammar
• We acquire language too quickly for it to be learned.
• "Learning Box" inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language.
• Whorf's Linguistic Relativity
• The idea that language determines the way we think.
• Thinking without language
• We can think in words, but more often we think in mental pictures.
• Kohler's Chimpanzees
• Kohler's exhibited that chimps can problem solve.