The sound patterns of language

 Humans have physically different vocal tracts, in terms of size and shape. In a
sense, every individual has a physically different vocal tract. Consequently, in
purely physical terms, every individual will pronounce sounds differently. There
are, then, potentially millions of physically different ways of saying the simple
word me.
 In addition to those millions of different individual vocal tracts, each individual
will not pronounce the word me in a physically identical manner on every
occasion. Obvious differences occur when that individual is shouting, or has just
woken from a deep sleep, or is suffering from a bad cold, or is trying to ask for a
sixth martini, or any combination of these.
 phonology

 Phonology is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of speech

sounds in a language. It is, in effect, based on a theory of what every adult
speaker of a language unconsciously knows about the sound patterns of that
language.
 Because of this theoretical status, phonology is concerned with the abstract or
mental aspect of the sounds in language rather than with the actual physical
articulation of speech sounds.
 Phonology is about the underlying design, the blueprint of each sound type,
which serves as the constant basis of all the variations in different physical
articulations of that sound type in different contexts.
 For example the [t] sound in the words tar, star, writer, butter and eighth.
 phonology
 all these articulation differences in [t] sounds are less important than the
distinction between the [t] sounds in general and the [k] sounds, or the [f]
sounds, or the [b] sounds.
 phonology is concerned with the abstract representation of sounds in our
minds that enables us to recognize and interpret the meaning of words on the
basis of the actual physical sounds we say and hear.
 Phonemes Each one of these meaning-distinguishing sounds in a language is
described as a phoneme. When we learn to use alphabetic writing, we are
actually using the concept of the phoneme as the single stable sound type that
is represented by a single written symbol. It is in this sense that the phoneme
/t/ is described as a sound type, of which all the different spoken versions of [t]
are tokens.
 Natural classes
 An essential property of a phoneme is that it functions contrastively.
 For example the two phonemes /f/ and /v/ in English because they are the only basis
of the contrast in meaning between the words fat and vat, or fine and vine.
 Natural classes
 The technical terms used in creating those charts can be considered “features” that
distinguish each phoneme from the next. If the feature is present, we mark it with a
plus sign (þ) and if it’s not present, we use a minus sign (−). Thus /p/ can be
characterized as [−voice, þbilabial, þstop] and /k/ as [−voice, þvelar, þstop]. Because
these two sounds share some features (i.e. both are voiceless stops), they are
sometimes described as members of a natural class of phonemes.
 Phonemes that have certain features in common tend to behave phonologically in
some similar ways. Phonemes that do not share those features tend to behave
differently. For example, /v/ has the features [þvoice, þlabiodental, þfricative] and so
cannot be in the same natural class of sounds as /p/ and /k/.
 Phones and allophones
o Phones and allophones While the phoneme is the abstract unit or sound type
(“in the mind”), there are many different versions of that sound type regularly
produced in actual speech (“in the mouth”). We can describe those different
versions as phones. Phones are phonetic units and appear in square brackets.
When we have a set of phones, all of which are versions of one phoneme, we
add the prefix “allo-” (¼ one of a closely related set) and refer to them as
allophones of that phoneme.
 Minimal pairs
o Minimal pairs When two words such as pat and bat are identical in form except
for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two words
are described as a minimal pair. More accurately, they would be classified as a
minimal pair in the phonology of English. (Arabic, for example, does not have
this contrast between /p/ and /b/.)
o An other examples of English minimal pairs are fan–van, bet–bat, site–side.
o When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by
changing one phoneme (always in the same position in the word), then we have
a minimal set. For example, one minimal set based on the vowel phonemes of
English could include feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot, and another minimal set
based on consonant phonemes could have big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig.
 Cultural transmission
 We acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental
genes.
 An infant born to Korean parents in Korea.
 A kitten, given comparable early experiences.
 This process whereby a language is passed on from one generation to the next
is described as cultural transmission.
 Humans born with the ability to acquire language but we are not born with the
ability to produce utterances in a specific language such as English.
 We acquire our first language as children in a culture.
 The general pattern in animal communication is that creatures are born with a
set of specific signals that are produced instinctively.
 Duality
 Human language is organized at two levels or layers simultaneously. This
property is called duality (or “double articulation”).
 with a limited set of discrete sounds, we are capable of producing a very large
number of sound combinations (e.g. words) that are distinct in meaning.
 Among other creatures, each communicative signal appears to be a single fixed
form that cannot be broken down into separate parts.
 Talking to animals
 There is a lot of spoken language directed by humans to animals, apparently
under the impression that the animal follows what is being said.
 We do not generally observe animals of one species learning to produce the
signals of another species.
 Humans couldn’t learn animals language.
 Chimpanzees and language
 In the 1930s, two scientists (Luella and Winthrop Kellogg) reported on their
experience of raising an infant chimpanzee together with their baby son.
 In the 1940s, a chimpanzee named Viki was reared by another scientist couple
(Catherine and Keith Hayes) in their own home, exactly as if she was a human child.
 This was a remarkable achievement since it has become clear that non-human
primates do not actually have a physically structured vocal tract which is suitable for
articulating the sounds used in speech.
 Another scientist couple (Beatrix and Allen Gardner) set out to teach a female
chimpanzee called Washoe to use a version of American Sign Language.
 Washoe also demonstrated understanding of a much larger number of signs than she
produced and was capable of holding rudimentary conversations, mainly in the form
of question–answer sequences.
 Sarah, another chimpanzee was being taught (by Ann and David Premack) to use a
set of plastic shapes for the purpose of communicating with humans.
 Chimpanzees and language
 A similar training technique with another artificial language was used (by Duane
Rumbaugh) to train a chimpanzee called Lana.
 The language she learned was called Yerkish and consisted of a set of symbols
on a large keyboard linked to a computer.
 Both Sarah and Lana demonstrated an ability to use what look like word
symbols and basic structures in ways that superficially resemble the use of
language.
 It has been pointed out that when Lana used the symbol for “please,” she did
not have to understand the meaning of the English word please.
 The controversy
 On the basis of his work with another chimpanzee called Nim, the psychologist
Herbert Terrace argued that chimpanzees simply produce signs in response to the
demands of people and tend to repeat signs those people use.
 Herbert’s conclusion was that chimpanzees are clever creatures who learn to
produce a certain type of behavior (signing or symbol selection) in order to get
rewards and are essentially performing sophisticated “tricks.”
 They showed that in the absence of any human, Washoe could produce correct
signs to identify objects in pictures.
 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.
 While Sue Savage-Rumbaugh was attempting to train a bonobo (a pygmy
chimpanzee) called Matata how to use the symbols of Yerkish, Matata’s adopted
 The controversy
 Although Matata did not do very well, her son Kanzi spontaneously started
using the symbol system with great ease.
 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 to demonstrate understanding of
spoken to English at a level comparable a two-and-ahalf-year-old human child.
 There was also evidence that he was using a consistently distinct set of “gentle
noises” as words to refer to things such as bananas, grapes and juice.
 Using language
 Important lessons have been learned from attempts to teach chimpanzees how to use
forms of language.
 Were Washoe and Kanzi capable of taking part in interaction with humans by using a
symbol system chosen by humans and not chimpanzees?
 Did Washoe and Kanzi go on to perform linguistically on a level comparable to a human
child about to begin pre-school?
 ” In arriving at these answers, we’ve had to face the fact that, even with a list of key
properties, we still don’t seem to have a non-controversial definition of what “using
language” means.
 In a very broad sense, language serves as a type of communication system that can be
observed in 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 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
 Using language
 However, there is a difference. Underlying the two-year-old’s communicative
activity is the capacity to develop a complex system of sounds and structures,
plus 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 comprehensive and productive sense that we say that language is
uniquely human.