Week1-2Human Language Versus Other 'Languages'

Question

• Does every human being have a language?

We use language

• to communicate ideas
• to think
• to show who we are

Language?

• computer programming language
• language of flowers
• language of music

Important

• Native speaker
• One can speak about everything
• Recognized by a group as their language

Question

• Is speech a characteristic of human language?
• What about deaf people?
• What about sign language?

Similarities of sign language

• System
• Just like spoken languages
• Variation
• Functionality
• Native speakers

People without languages

Are there people without language?

• Wolf children: children growing up without parents or language
• There is physical and psychological abuse
• Aphasia: the partial loss of language abilities as a result of brain damage

Evolution of language

• Continuity-based theories
• Discontinuity-based theories

Summary

Strong link between being human and using languages. Almost every human being uses language, even deaf people. Those few people who don’t have languages live in very exceptional circumstances.

Being human = using language