Language and Perception

Intercultural Pragmatics

This essay begins by identifying what communication is and what linguistics is in order to establish the relationship between them. The characterization of linguistics leads to discussion of the nature of language and of the relationship between a theory of language, i. e., linguistic theory, and the object language it models. This, in turn, leads to a review of speculations on the origins of human language with a view to identifying the motivation for its creation and its primary function. After considering a host of data, it becomes clear that, contrary to some approaches, the primary function of human language is to function as a vehicle of communication. Thus, linguistics studies what for humans is their primary vehicle of communication.

Armenian Folia Anglistika, 2011

The article investigates the psycholinguistic characteristics of language acquisition and communicative processes. To this end, the natural process of speech articulation and the role of the creation of speech intention, situational factors of speech activity as well as different theories underlining the peculiarities of foreign language acquisition have undergone comprehensive examination in the first place. Neurolinguistic, linguistic and psycholinguistic approaches describing the process of language acquisition have been studied with utmost care and attention. The article highlights the necessity of entering the data of psycholinguistic investigations into the theoretical generalization of the questions discussed.

Psycholinguistics is a study of the relationship between language and mind. The birth of Psycholinguistics as a discipline may be credited to the conference in 1951 sponsored by the social science research council that brought together several leading psychologists and linguists, the proceeding of the conference out lined Psycholinguistics research agenda that reflected a consensus among the participants that the methedological and theoretical tools developed by psychologist can be used to explore language and language acquisition. The earlier phase 'pschology of language' and the newterm 'psychologuistics ' represent the shift of focus in our approaches of the study of language behavior. Psycholinguistic studies may be broadly classified into three types according to the following questions.  How language is acquired during development,  How language is comprehended  How language is produced Of these studies on language acquisition are referred to as developmental Psycholinguistics and the other two as experimental Psycholinguistics. Any one who has observed children learning languages can perceive that he process involved in the development of language learning are quite mysterious. A baby's very first sounds can hardly be called speech sounds, the baby's cries signal hunger, thirst or some other discomfort, or they are a part of an instinctive testing of the muscles and organs of speech like the vocal cords; these cries are organically determined. After two or three months, the baby moves into the babbling stage, at this stage the sound signify something. It is at this stage that the pre-linguistic sounds gradually progress to imitative sounds. When the baby moves towards the twelth month stage, an average infant takes note of the speakers around him/her, usually the parents. The self-stimulating babbling gives way to stimulation from others around; by twelve months, the perceptive development progresses to the point where sounds patterns made by others can be reproduced. The baby's gradual physical growth is accompanied by the equally gradual development of speech areas of brain and speech apparatus to keeps on developing, slowly. At about 17 or 18 months, the child understands and responds to simple utterances and understanding usually preceeds production of speech. Even before a child is two years old, his /her vocabulary increases considerably and (s) he can form two and three word utterances. We

Synthesis Philosophica, 2017

The paper provides a brief overview of different approaches to language or languages in the history of linguistic thought. It briefly outlines the varying relationships between grammar or linguistics and other disciplines, especially philosophy and philology. Thereafter, the question of the relationship between language and cognition is considered from a viewpoint that does not provide an abstract and generalized answer, but rather offers insight into the processes that either reduce the cognitive potential of a language or enable a language to enhance its cognitive potential. Thus, the paper deals with two opposite processes that occur in the history of every language. One is language change, and the other is language development. These two concepts must be strictly differentiated, although they are often confused. Every language changes with time, and this change is usually "deterioration", or-as the Indian grammarians called changes in the Indian languages-"ruin" (apabhraṃśa). In the strictly linguistic sense, it could be termed the "loss of distinctions". This phenomenon reduces the cognitive potential of a particular language: communication becomes more limited or more difficult, and intellectual and cultural contents are impoverished and deteriorated. Language development is the opposite process, whereby a language gradually recovers from such a state of impoverishment thanks to the social, cultural, and intellectual needs of another epoch. Unlike language change, language development enhances the cognitive potential of language. The first process is spontaneous, while the second implies a conscious, systematic effort by the linguistic community. This development is realised through different strategies in languages of different structures, depending largely on the prior history of the respective language. Both processes are illustrated through select examples from European and Indian languages. Keywords language, cognition, language change, language development, cognitive potential of a language Without language we would not be able to communicate our more elaborate thoughts or knowledge. Would we be able to think without language? J. G. Herder believed that man is unthinkable without language and that the language is as ancient as mankind (Herder 1772). Today, scientists usually estimate that the human species is considerably older than the language as we know it. Hominidae may have appeared some 6 million years ago, Homo habilis more than 2 million years ago, Homo erectus more than 1,5 million years ago, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis approximately two hundred thousand years ago, and Homo sapiens sapiens some 100.000 years ago. Most anthropolo-SYNTHESIS PHILOSOPHICA 64 (2/2017) pp. (257-270) M. Ježić, Language and Cognition: Some Philosophical and Linguistic …

This best-selling textbook provides an engaging and user-friendly introduction to the study of language. Assuming no prior knowledge of the subject, Yule presents information in bite-sized sections, clearly explaining the major concepts in linguisticsfrom how children learn language to why men and women speak differently, through all the key elements of language. This fifth edition has been revised and updated with new figures and tables, additional topics, and numerous new examples using languages from across the world. To increase student engagement, and to foster problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, the book includes thirty new tasks. An expanded and revised online study guide provides students with further resources, including answers and tutorials for all tasks, while encouraging lively and proactive learning. This is the most fundamental and easy-to-use introduction to the study of language.

International Journal of Linguistics and Computational Applications, 2015

This article is going to deliberate the Social Change as a part of Linguistics. A phoneme in a particular language may or may not be a phoneme in another language. The syllable was introduced as a structural unit of phonological description. The concept of language as a special gift of god has been found in several diverse and unrelated cultures. Painini‟s grammar is one of the greatest monuments details, every syntactic usage of its author‟s speech. No other language, to this day, has been so perfectly described the language we speak now is the result of historical movements and it changes thousands of years; language may be defined only in a genetic way, which necessitates historical research. . Keywords— Linguistic, Ancient Greeks, Germanic group, Idiolect, Dialect, Syntax and morphology, Speech – community, Grimm‟s Law, Verner‟s Law, Phonemes, Anglo-Saxon on phonetics.

Psycholinguistics, in another word psychology of language, is a subsection of study uniting the disciplines of psychology and linguistics. Psycholinguistics is about how we produce and recognize the speech and functioning of the brain to process the language. The cognitive processes of a language can shortly be called as memory, thinking, learning and perception. It came forward as a new discipline by Chomskyan revolution. Acquisition, comprehension and production are the main processes of it. The knowledge we need to be able to use the language and the cognitive processes constitutes the backbones of psycholinguistics. It studies the mental faculties of how man’s mind perceives, develops and produces spoken and written communication. The specific topics it analyses are phonetics, semantics, pragmatics, syntax, phonolgy and morphology. Emerging as a reaction to Behaviorist Theory of the B.F. Skinner who considered all forms of learning as a dichotomy of positive and negative reinforcement, Noam Chomsky put forth that human being is innately programed for languages and all the required neurobiological factors enabling us to acquire, use and comprehend the language cognitively exist in us. So, in this sub-field of science of linguistics, what makes it possible to generate meaningful sentences out of lexis and grammatical components cognitively forms the rationale of psycholinguistics.

Revista EntreLinguas

What makes us human? Language takes the lead in this dispute that has not been settled by science. What is known is that only humans have developed an apparatus fit for the production of sounds in all the known languages coupled with a brain circuitry that enables communication to become not only transactional, but also a matter of collaboration and cocreation. What is proposed in this review is to examine the relationship between language, thought, and learning; the hypothesis of linguistic determinism and relativism and its implication for learning and development; current ideas on the evolution of human language; connections between linguistic development and genetic inheritance of language capacity; the difference between first and second language acquisition; and how correct identification of dyslexia and aphasia can inform current understanding of the process of language acquisition and development.

Synthesis philosophica

The paper provides a brief overview of different approaches to language or languages in the history of linguistic thought. It briefly outlines the varying relationships between grammar or linguistics and other disciplines, especially philosophy and philology. Thereafter, the question of the relationship between language and cognition is considered from a viewpoint that does not provide an abstract and generalized answer, but rather offers insight into the processes that either reduce the cognitive potential of a language or enable a language to enhance its cognitive potential. Thus, the paper deals with two opposite processes that occur in the history of every language. One is language change, and the other is language development. These two concepts must be strictly differentiated, although they are often confused. Every language changes with time, and this change is usually "deterioration", or-as the Indian grammarians called changes in the Indian languages-"ruin" (apabhraṃśa). In the strictly linguistic sense, it could be termed the "loss of distinctions". This phenomenon reduces the cognitive potential of a particular language: communication becomes more limited or more difficult, and intellectual and cultural contents are impoverished and deteriorated. Language development is the opposite process, whereby a language gradually recovers from such a state of impoverishment thanks to the social, cultural, and intellectual needs of another epoch. Unlike language change, language development enhances the cognitive potential of language. The first process is spontaneous, while the second implies a conscious, systematic effort by the linguistic community. This development is realised through different strategies in languages of different structures, depending largely on the prior history of the respective language. Both processes are illustrated through select examples from European and Indian languages. Keywords language, cognition, language change, language development, cognitive potential of a language Without language we would not be able to communicate our more elaborate thoughts or knowledge. Would we be able to think without language? J. G. Herder believed that man is unthinkable without language and that the language is as ancient as mankind (Herder 1772). Today, scientists usually estimate that the human species is considerably older than the language as we know it. Hominidae may have appeared some 6 million years ago, Homo habilis more than 2 million years ago, Homo erectus more than 1,5 million years ago, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis approximately two hundred thousand years ago, and Homo sapiens sapiens some 100.000 years ago. Most anthropolo-SYNTHESIS PHILOSOPHICA 64 (2/2017) pp. (257-270) M. Ježić, Language and Cognition: Some Philosophical and Linguistic …