What is language?
5th PGRF on Linguistics
CUHK 2008.3.15
William S-Y. Wang 王士元
wsywang@ee.cuhk.edu.hk
It is difficult to know the true nature of Language
because we are always totally immersed in it.
2
Herrmann, Esther et al. 2007. Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of
Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science 317.1360-.
3
Herrmann, Esther et al. 2007. Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social
Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science 317.1360-.
4
Lenneberg, E. 1967. Biological Foundations of Language.
5
Patricia K. Kuhl. 2004. EARLY LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: CRACKING THE SPEECH
CODE.
NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE
5.831- 843.
6
Patricia K. Kuhl. 2004. EARLY LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: CRACKING
7
THE SPEECH CODE. NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE 5.831- 843.
Patricia K. Kuhl. 2004. EARLY LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: CRACKING THE
SPEECH CODE.
NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE
5.831- 843.
“Rivera-Gaxiola and colleagues recorded ERP’s in
typically developing infants in response to native and nonnative speech sounds … One group responded to both
contrasts with positive-going brainwave changes, whereas
the second group responded to both contrasts with
negative-going brainwave changes. Both groups could
neurally discriminate the foreign language sound at 11
months of age, whereas total group analyses had
obscured this result.”
from p.839.
8
Loss of endings in Putonghua
Cantonese
-p
-t
-k
-m
-n
-ng
Putonghua
-n
-ng
Cf : English: bee, beep, beet, beak beam, bean, being.
9
Klima, Edward S., Ursula Bellugi et al. 1979.
The Signs of Language. Harvard University Press.
10
Klima, Edward S., Ursula Bellugi et al. 1979.
The Signs of Language. Harvard University Press.
11
12
13
Ramachandran, Vilayanur S. & Edward M. Hubbard. 2003.
Hearing colors, tasting shapes. Scientific American 288.42-9.
14
Ke, Jinyun. 2004.
Sound change and variation within individuals
Data from monozygotic twins:








/n-/
/l-/
“v”
南京
男人
西南
发难
归纳
5
33
12
10 (shared: 1)
18 (shared: 11)
22 (shared: 5)
n
n
n
n
n
l
l
l
l
n
15
Individual difference in language:
is
I think it is you who
confused.
are
16
Sentences used to elicit linguistic judgment:
from Ross, John Robert. 1979. Where's English?
in C.J. Fillmore, D. Kempler & W.S-Y. Wang, eds.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Under no circumstance would I accept that offer.
Nobody that I get along with is here who I want to talk to.
We don’t believe the claim that Jimison ever had any money.
The fact he wasn’t in the store shouldn’t be forgotten.
What will the grandfather clock stand between the bed and?
I urge that anything he touch be burned.
All the further we got was to Sudbury.
That is a frequently talked about proposal.
Nobody is here who I get along with who I want to talk to.
The doctor is sure that there will be no problems.
We have barely $500 in our account.
17
Instructions for subjects:
from Ross, John Robert. 1979. Where's English?
in C.J. Fillmore, D. Kempler & W.S-Y. Wang, eds.
Please rate the following sentences as to their grammaticality, using
the following numerical prefixes:
1.
The sentence sounds perfect. You would use it without
hesitation.
2.
The sentence is less than perfect – something in it just doesn’t
feel comfortable. Maybe lots of people could say it, but you
never feel quite comfortable with it.
3.
Worse than 2, but not completely impossible. Maybe
somebody might use the sentence, but certainly not you. The
sentence is almost beyond hope.
4.
The sentence is absolutely out. Impossible to understand,
nobody would say it. Un-English.
18
Based on data from Ross, John Robert. 1979.
Where's English?
C.J. Fillmore, D. Kempler & W.S-Y. Wang, eds.
19
Ross, John Robert. 1979:160. Where's English?
in C.J. Fillmore, et al, eds.
“The view of language that seems most plausible
to me is that the sentences of a language are
points in an n-space … An idiolect is a vector in
this n-space … And each speaker’s vector, or
path, through the space will, I expect, be as
individual as his or her face – a linguistic
fingerprint.”
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… an enchanted loom where millions of flashing shuttles
weave a dissolving pattern, always a meaningful
pattern though never an abiding one; a shifting pattern
of subpatterns.
Sherrington, Charles. 1953.
The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. 2nd ed.
21
Visible spectrum of electromagnetic waves:
by frequency and wave length.
22
Gazzaniga et al.
2002:152.
23
Kay, Paul, et al. 2008. Lateralized Whorf: Language influences perceptual
decision in the right visual field. In Minett and Wang, eds.
24
Kay, Paul, et al. 2008. Lateralized Whorf: Language influences perceptual
decision in the right visual field. In Minett and Wang, eds.
25
Tan, Lihai, et al. 2008. Language affects patterns of brain
activation associated with perceptual decision. PNAS 105.10.4004-9.
26
Tan, Lihai, et al. 2008. Language affects patterns of brain activation
associated with perceptual decision. PNAS 105.10.4004-9.
27
Tan, Lihai, et al. 2008. Language affects patterns of brain activation
associated with perceptual decision. PNAS 105.10.4004-9.
“Crucially, perceptual discrimination of easy-toname colors evoked stronger activation in …
two regions responsible for word finding
processes…. This finding suggests that the
language processing areas of the brain are
directly involved in visual perceptual decision,
thus providing neuroimaging support for the
Whorf hypothesis.”
from the abstract
28
W.S-Y.Wang.Feb.1973.
Scientific American.
29
Peng, Gang and Wang, W. S-Y. (2005).
“Tone recognition of continuous Cantonese speech based on support vector
machines.” Speech Communication, 45:49-62.
The Mandarin tones are relatively compact and discretely distributed, which allows
for more successful tone recognition.
30
Wang, W.S-Y. 1976. Language change.
Annals of the N.Y. Academy of Science 280.61-72.
31
Wang, W.S-Y. 1976. Language change.
Annals of the N.Y. Academy of Science 280.61-72.
32
Gazzaniga et al.
2002:133
33
EEG: Electroencephalography.



The electrical activity is recorded from human brains by the
electrodes on the scalp. (Ref. Luck, 2005)
Strength: A direct brain response measurement. Its good
temporal resolution helps to answer the ‘when’ question.
Facility: EGI 128-Channel EEG system
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The experiments reported by Kay and Tan and their
colleagues, both reaction time and fMRI, show that
visual perception is strongly influenced by the
linguistic categories which code the colors.
The experiments in progress by Zheng show that
even with attention focused elsewhere, the brain
responds differently to auditory stimuli within tonal
categories and stimuli across tonal categories.
These experiments complement each other in
showing that language shapes how the brain responds
to sensory stimuli.
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To recapitulate …
A language is a system of forms for communication,
internally and externally, mostly acquired since our early
months of life. These forms are closely networked with
cognition and culture. Since the acquisition process
depends on individual experiences, there are significant
differences even since early infancy. Linguistic systems
per se are supra-modal, but change in time according to
the constraints of the particular mode.
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While many dimensions of our physical world are
analog/continuous, linguistic forms are digital/discrete.
Language converts these physical continua into small numbers
of categories, as in the case of color words or lexical tones.
These categories are part of the language we learn, and our brain
is shaped in this learning process.
It has become possible only very recently to study the brain
directly as it performs various linguistic tasks, visual and
auditory, opening up new opportunities for linguistic research.
.
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Language as shaped by the brain. (in press).
Christiansen, M. H. & N. Chater. Behavioral and Brain Sciences
It is not surprising that a language must be easily and
universally learnable; otherwise it would not survive.
More interestingly, current research is beginning to
suggest that the brain is shaped by differences between
languages. The evolution of language and the brain is an
interactive, symbiotic process.
The invention of writing several thousand years ago
must have had a major impact on the nature of language,
and on the brain. With technology fundamentally reshaping human communication, how will language
evolve in the future ?
38
Selected References:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Christiansen, Morten H. and Nick Chater. 2008. Language as shaped by the brain. Behavioral and Brain
Sciences (in press).
Fillmore, C.J., D. Kempler & W.S-Y. Wang (eds) 1979. Individual Differences in Language Ability and
Language Behavior: Academic Press.
Gleitman, Henry Gleitman and Lila. 1979. Language use and language judgment. In C.J. Fillmore, D.
Kempler & W.S-Y. Wang, eds
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1971. Is language like a chess game? Pp.330-351 in Language, Culture and
Communication. Stanford University Press.
Herrmann, Esther, Josep Call, María Victoria Hernández-Lloreda, Brian Hare & Michael Tomasello. 2007.
Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis.
Science 317.1360-.
Kay, Paul, Terry Regier, Aubrey L. Gilbert, Richard B. Ivry. 2008. Lateralized Whorf: Language influences
perceptual decision in the right visual field. In Minett and Wang, eds.
Minett, J.W. & W.S-Y. Wang, eds. 2008. Language, Evolution, and the Brain: City University of Hong Kong
Press.
Ross, John Robert. 1979. Where's English? In C.J. Fillmore, D. Kempler & W.S-Y. Wang, eds.
Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1916. Cours de Linguistique Générale. English translation by Wade Baskin ;
published in 1959. New York : Philosophical Library.
Shuai, L. & W. S-Y. Wang. 2008. Tone Lateralization under Noisy Conditions. Proceedings of 4th
International Conference on Speech Prosody, 2008.
Tan, Lihai, Alice H. D. Chan, Paul Kay, Pek-Lan Khong, Lawrance K. C. Yip & Kang-Kwong Luke. 2008.
Language affects patterns of brain activation associated with perceptual decision. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci.
USA 105.10.4004-9.
Wang, W.S-Y. 1976. Language change. Annals of N.Y. Academy of Science 280.61-72.
Wang, W.S-Y. 2007. The language mosaic and its biological bases. Journal of Bio-Education 2.8-16.
Zheng, Hongying. 2008. Categorical perception of lexical tones : correlation between electric brain
response and behavioral performance. To be presented at this forum.
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