What is language?

Here are some different statements about language:

- "Language surrounds us every day and we know how to recognise it" 

 

- "A word is one or more sounds that in combination have a specific meaning assigned by the language"

 

- "The most powerful tool known is the one we use to build every other tool"

I think that the statements are all true because language is a very important tool that let us all communicate, and without communication, the problem in the story of the tower of Babel  will happen to us.

History of Language

Here is a video about history of language and some questions bellow

1) Why is it said that people in East Africa develop more than the rest?
    
because they develop a better language.


2) What happened to the earlier language on the Earth?
 
the ancients languages have been erased and historians confirm that their trace were lost.


3) Accoring to Dr. Johanna Nichols, what were the first utterances made by Humans?


The first utterances consist of things that were transactionally between calls and words. Maybe that calls appear against the need to talk or to take the attention of others.

How we learn language?

Here is a mind map that shows different points of view of different scientists in relation with  how we learn language

Class Debate

In the class debate we discussed about how children learn language, there where some very interesting points of view from different groups and some very good arguments

Language and Parole

 Which comes first? Thought or Language?

In my opinion, language comes first because when we think about something, we hear a little voice in our head, that's why language comes first but in a complementing way.

How did Language developed in Humans

YouTube Video

 

Answer these questions based on the video you just watched:

1. Which is the 'trick' (process) that enables us to communicate something to others?

2. Do animals talk? If not, What do they do to communicate?

3. What do we express when we talk?

4. WHat did Dr Deb Roy try to achieve in his house?

5. Which are the earliest stages in language for a child?

6. What external and internal factors made the data recollected in the experiment into something they could use?

7. How did the parent's speech change from their son's first word until he could utter more complex structures?

8. What does Dr Deb Roy compare the "blossoming" of a speech form?

Answers:

1.Trying to send our thoughts to other people

2.They do meaningless sounds to communicate

3.Our needs or thoughts

4.Try to figure out how humans learn to talk

5.From babbling to easy sounds to complex sentences

7.They started with simple words to complex sentences

8.With a flower