Study Questions

Chapter 1 Glenda Carolina Nez
1. Why is it difficult to agree with psammethichus that Phrygian must have been the
original human language? Because the children that are mentioned in the source may not have picked up the word bekos; what is the identified word from the children, from any human voice sound. They just might have heard the sound of the goats.
2. What is the basic idea behind the bow-wow theory of language origin? The basic idea behind this theory is that at the beginning humans learnt sounds imitating animal sounds or imitating the sound of any abject that they used, they used to imitate those sounds to refer the object of the sound.
3. Why are interjections such as ouch considered to be unlikely sources of human
speech sounds? Because they are mostly produced by sudden intakes of breath that is the opposite of a normal human talk.
Carlos Enrique Durn Hernndez

4. Where is the pharynx and how did it come an important part of human sound
production? The pharynx is in the larynx, above the vocal folds. The pharynx acts as a resonator for increase range and clarity of the sounds produced via the larynx and the vocal tract. This gives human an extra vocal power to produce sounds and words.
5. Why do you think that young deaf children who become fluent in sign language
would be cited in support of the innate hypothesis? Because just human has this possibility, thanks to the language gene.
6. With which of the six sources would you associate this quotation?
Chewing, licking and sucking are extremely widespread mammalian activities, which, in terms of casual observation, have obvious similarities with speech.
Chapter 2 Calixto Quezada 1. Why is reflexivity considered to be a special property of human language? Humans are able to reflect. They are able to talk about, or reflect on a language itself. Without this ability, we could not even been talking about the properties of a language right now. Humans are the only ones that use language to think to talk about language. Reflexive: directed or turned back on itself, capable of reflection, a thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation. (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
2. What kind of evidence is used to support the idea that language is
culturally transmitted? We acquire our first language as children in a culture. Cultural transmission of a specific language is crucial in the human acquisition process. An infant born to Salvadoran parents in El Salvador and then adopted and brought up from birth by Japanese adoptive parents into Japan, will have physical characteristics inherited from his or her natural parents, but will inevitably speak Japanese. A dog may be taken from born into an environment where there are no other dogs, but will bark regardless.
3. What is the difference between a communication system with productivity and one with fixed reference? The difference between a communication system with productivity and one with fixed reference is that productivity allows to create infinite sounds, and a fixed reference is a signal in the system of language that is fixed, and cannot be manipulated. A communication system with productivity is capable to create new words to describe new events, situations or things; on the other hand a communication system with fixed reference will stay the same even if the situation, event or thing is changed.
4. How did the Gardners try to show that Washoe was not simply repeating
signs made by interacting humans?
The Gardners argued that they were not animals trainers, nor were they inculcating and then eliciting conditioned responses from Washoe. In complex experiments, designed to eliminate any possible provision of cues by humans, they showed that in the absence of any human. Washoe could produce correct signs to identify objects in pictures. They also emphasize a major difference between the experiences of Washoe. Washoe lived in a domestic environment with a lot of opportunity for imaginative play and interaction with fluent signers who were also using sing language with each other. They also report that another group of younger chimpanzees not only learned sign language, but also occasionally used signs with each other and with Washoe, even when there were no humans present.
5. If Sarah could use a gray plastic shape to convey the meaning of the word red, which property does her language seem to have? The property of arbitrariness. There is not a natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. It would be hard to argue for any natural connection between a gray plastic shape and the word red. The connection is quite arbitrary.
6. What was considered to be the key element in Kanzis language learning? The key element in Kanzis language learning was that he had learned not by being taught, but by being exposed to, and observing a kind of language in use at a very early age. Kanzi eventually developed a large symbol vocabulary over 250 forms. By the age of eight, he was reported to be able, through the association of symbols with the spoken words, to demonstrate understanding of spoken English at the level comparable to a two-and-a-half-year-old human child. There was also evidence that he was using a consistently distinct set of gentle noises and capable of using his symbol system to ask to watch his favorites movies.

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Chapter 1 Glenda Carolina Nez

3. Why are interjections such as ouch considered to be unlikely sources of human

Carlos Enrique Durn Hernndez

signs made by interacting humans?

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