scholarly journals Onomatopoeia and Cat Vocalisations

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Aliaa Aloufi
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Natural Sounds ◽  
World Languages

Onomatopoeia—the imitation of natural sounds—is a common phenomenon in human language, though imitations of the same sounds might appear different cross-linguistically. It is true that onomatopoeia is not like ordinary language, but how does it differ from natural vocalisation? While the distinction between onomatopoeia and ordinary language has received ample treatment, its difference from natural sounds have so far received less attention from linguistics. This study aims to investigate the phonetic differences between onomatopoeic cat sounds in ten languages and natural cat vocalisations. The findings show some segmental and phonotactical distinctions due to the direct representation of these words regarding their meanings, which clearly indicates that this phenomenon in world languages is not arbitrary and offers strong evidence of iconicity. While arbitrariness is the norm in human language and has an essential impact on language development, there are clearly some nonarbitrary aspects of human language, and onomatopoeia is notable among them.

Making a case for mirror-neuron system involvement in language development: What about autism and blindness?

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Théoret ◽  
Shirley Fecteau
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Mirror Neurons ◽  
Mirror Neuron System ◽  
Mirror Neuron ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Motor Resonance ◽  
Neuron System ◽  
Communication Development ◽  
System Involvement ◽  
Language Communication

The notion that manual gestures played an important role in the evolution of human language was strengthened by the discovery of mirror neurons in monkey area F5, the proposed homologue of human Broca's area. This idea is central to the thesis developed by Arbib, and lending further support to a link between motor resonance mechanisms and language/communication development is the case of autism and congenital blindness. We provide an account of how these conditions may relate to the aforementioned theory.

scholarly journals Introduction to the Special Issue on Nonverbal Vocal Communication in Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-394
Author(s):  
Manuela Filippa ◽  
Didier Grandjean
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Multiple Viewpoints ◽  
Future Research Directions

Abstract Nonverbal vocal aspects of communication, often related to affective states, are crucial to social interactions not only for animals but also for humans during early infancy, as well as being one of the pillars of human language development and acquisition. The thread that binds together the contributions to this Special Issue is the analysis of nonverbal vocal communication during development, both from ontogenetic and phylogenetic perspectives. This introduction presents the multiple viewpoints emerging from this Special Issue and delineates future research directions for investigating the nonverbal aspects of vocal communication in early development.

On the nature of verb–noun dissociations in bilectal SLI: A psycholinguistic perspective from Greek

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARIA KAMBANAROS ◽  
KLEANTHES K. GROHMANN ◽  
MICHALIS MICHAELIDES ◽  
ELENI THEODOROU
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Picture Naming ◽  
Word Class ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Per Se

We report on object and action picture-naming accuracy in two groups of bilectal speakers in Cyprus, children with typical language development (TLD) and children with specific language impairment (SLI). Object names were overall better retrieved than action names by both groups. Given that comprehension for action names was relatively intact for all children, this finding is taken to be the result of a breakdown at the interface of the semantic lexicon and phonological representations, or access to them. The results complement similar research on English, a minimally inflected language in contrast to Greek. Overall, cross-linguistic word class effects provide strong evidence for the hypothesis that grammatical category is an organizing principle shared across languages. Finally, our results suggest that bilectal children with SLI present with general lexical delay rather than a deficit in verb naming per se.

scholarly journals Archaeolinguistics As A Way To Overcome The Impasse In Comparative Linguistics

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1313-1322
Author(s):  
Wolodymyr Hlib Kozyrski ◽  
Alexander Victor Malovichko
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Synthetic Approach ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Comparative Linguistics ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Half Decade

The paper exposes some essential points of our one and a half decade research results within new approach to study prehistoric stages of human language development mainly in times of ergaster-erectus domination and reflects our reaction to the protracted conceptual crisis in the comparative linguistics. As a result of fundamentally incorrectly stated goals, most of the researchers artificially limited themselves both by the defined scope of the problems to solve and by the methods used. Becoming tightly tied knot of up to now unsolved intrinsic contradictions, today comparative linguistics needs radical change. We have developed a synthetic approach that has proved its effectiveness. Our model is well aligned with prehistoric data of auxiliary historical disciplines and even IBM Genographic project. The results offer further opportunities for interesting studies.

Language in Our Brain

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela D. Friederici ◽  
Noam Chomsky
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Processing Language

The language faculty is grounded in the human brain and allows any infant to learn any language. In her book, Angela D. Friederici offers a neurobiological theory of human language by integrating data from adult language processing, language development and brain evolution across primates. Describing the brain basis of language in its functional and structural neuroanatomy as well as its neurodynamics, she argues that differences in the brain that are species-specific may be at the root of human language.

Solitary sound play during acquisition of English vocalizations by an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus): Possible parallels with children’s monologue speech

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene M. Pepperberg ◽  
Katherine J. Brese ◽  
Barbara J. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Private Speech ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Specific Training ◽  
Interspecies Communication ◽  
African Grey Parrot ◽  
Grey Parrot ◽  
Time Periods

ABSTRACTAn African Grey parrot, Alex, who had learned to use English speech in studies on referential interspecies communication and animal cognition, produced English monologues in both the presence and absence of human receivers. This study examines one component of Alex’s monologue behavior, private speech, while he was being taught new vocalizations. His private speech during those time periods included a small percentage of novel utterances, not yet used in the presence of his caretakers, that were phonologically related to, but not exact reproductions of, the new vocalizations. His monologues also contained utterances that were part of the general daily routine as well as the specific training paradigm, but rarely included verbatim reproductions of the training scenario. Alex’s behaviors were comparable to those of children in the early stages of language acquisition. Because monologue behavior has been characterized as a form of practice that facilitates human language development, the data are discussed in terms of the possible functions of monologues during Alex’s acquisition of novel vocalizations.

scholarly journals A Songbird Animal Model for Dissecting the Genetic Bases of Autism Spectrum Disorder

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 241-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Carmen Panaitof
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Animal Model ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Laboratory Animals ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Genetic Bases

The neural and genetic bases of human language development and associated neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in which language impairment represents a core deficit, are poorly understood. Given that no single animal model can fully capture the behavioral and genetic complexity of ASD, work in songbird, an experimentally tractable animal model of vocal learning, can complement the valuable tool of rodent genetic models and contribute important insights to our understanding of the communication deficits observed in ASD. Like humans, but unlike traditional laboratory animals such as rodents or non-human primates, songbirds exhibit the capacity of vocal learning, a key subcomponent of language. Human speech and birdsong reveal important parallels, highlighting similar developmental critical periods, a homologous cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuitry, and a critical role for social influences in the learning of vocalizations. Here I highlight recent advances in using the songbird model to probe the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the formation and function of neural circuitry for birdsong and, by analogy, human language, with the ultimate goal of identifying any shared or human unique biological pathways underscoring language development and its disruption in ASD.

scholarly journals Coevolution of structural variation and optimization in sound systems of human language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Han Zhang ◽  
Tao Gong
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Structural Variation ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Linguistic Typology ◽  
Mixed Effect ◽  
World Languages ◽  
Mixed Effect Models ◽  
Gradual Evolution ◽  
Vowel Systems ◽  
Two Parameters

AbstractEvolution of sound systems of human language is an optimization process to improve communicative effectiveness: The intrinsic structures of sound systems are constantly organized with respect to constraints in speech production and perception. However, there lack sufficient quantitative descriptions of this process, large-scale investigations on universal tendencies in sound systems, and explicit evidence on whether demographic and/or geographic factors can influence linguistic typology of sound systems. Here, we proposed two composite parameters, namely structural variation and optimization, to capture linguistic typology of sound systems, vowel systems in particular. Synchronic comparisons based on a large-scale vowel corpus of world languages revealed a universal negative correlation between the two parameters. Phylogenetic comparative analyses identified a correlated evolution of the two, but with distinct evolutionary modes: a gradual evolution of the structural variation and a punctuated equilibrium of the optimization. Mixed-effect models also reported significant effects of speaker population size and longitude on shaping vowel systems of world languages. All these findings elaborate the intrinsic evolutionary mechanism of sound systems, clarify the extrinsic, non-linguistic effects on shaping human sound systems, and quantitatively describe and interpret the evolution and typology of sound systems.

scholarly journals Archaeolinguistics as a Way to Overcome the Impasse in Comparative Linguistics

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 1313-1322
Author(s):  
Wolodymyr Hlib Kozyrski ◽  
Alexander Victor Malovichko
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Synthetic Approach ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Comparative Linguistics ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Half Decade

The paper exposes some essential points of our one and a half decade research results within new approach to study prehistoric stages of human language development mainly in times of ergaster-erectus domination and reflects our reaction to the protracted conceptual crisis in the comparative linguistics. As a result of fundamentally incorrectly stated goals, most of the researchers artificially limited themselves both by the defined scope of the problems to solve and by the methods used. Becoming tightly tied knot of up to now unsolved intrinsic contradictions, today comparative linguistics needs radical change. We have developed a synthetic approach that has proved its effectiveness. Our model is well aligned with prehistoric data of auxiliary historical disciplines and even IBM Genographic project. The results offer further opportunities for interesting studies.

Effect of Verbal Routine Contexts and Expansions on Gains in the Mean Length of Utterance in Children With Developmental Delays

1995 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Yoder ◽  
Heidi Spruytenburg ◽  
Anne Edwards ◽  
Betty Davies
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Developmental Delay ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Developmental Delays ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Repeated Interaction ◽  
Secondary Analyses ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

This study tests the hypothesis that verbal routines and expansions increase generalized child mean length of utterance (MLU). Verbal routines were built through repeated interaction with the same picture book across several intervention sessions. The subjects were four young children with developmental delay. One of the subjects experienced two rounds of the intervention (i.e., two intervention phases with two different books) to provide the opportunity for more replication and extension of the effects. Generalization sessions were conducted with a different adult, different modality of material (i.e., objects), and different interaction style than were used during the intervention. The pattern of the results provides strong evidence that the intervention increased generalized MLU in children in the first stage of language development more than in children in a later language stage. The secondary analyses support the notion that verbal routines and expansions were responsible for the effects. Future research is needed to determine why the intervention was not effective for the developmentally older cases but was effective for the developmentally younger cases.

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