What is language - Harvard University

Introduc)on

?To

?Linguis)cs

?

Adam

?Szczegielniak

?

?

What is

Language?

Learning

?Goals

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

What

?do

?we

?know

?when

?we

?know

?a

?language

?

Crea)vity

?in

?language

?

Competence/Performance

?

What

?is

?Grammar

?

Language

?Universals

?

Language

?Development

?

Language

?and

?Thought

?

What is Language?

? The ability to use language, perhaps more

than any other attribute, distinguishes

humans from other animals

? But what does it mean to know a

language?

Linguistic Knowledge

? When you know a language, you can speak (or

sign) and be understood by others who know

that language

? Five-year-olds already know their first

language(s)

? The ability to use a language requires profound

knowledge that most speakers don¡¯t know that

they know

Cant

?help

?but

?use

?language

?

? Try

?to

?not

?understand

?what

?I

?am

?saying

?

? Just

?as

?impossible

?as

?trying

?not

?to

?be

?fooled

?by

?op)cal

?

illusions

?

? You

?cannot

?stop

?blinking

?or

?having

?peripheral

?vision

?

? For

?example:

?Rota)ng

?Snakes

?¨C

?the

?circular

?snakes

?

appear

?to

?rotate

?spontaneously

?in

?your

?peripheral

?

vision

?as

?a

?result

?of

?the

?peripheral

?driM

?illusion.

?No)ce

?

how

?the

?movement

?stops

?when

?you

?look

?directly

?at

?a

?

collec)on

?of

?concentric

?circles.

?The

?illusion

?is

?probably

?

caused

?by

?unconscious

?rapid

?eye

?movements

?and

?

blinking

?

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download