Cognition, intelligence and creativity

Nativist views/ Language as instinct vs. social learning

Human ancestors vs. modern humans: What we need to add to the mind to get language? (J. Searle)

Animals’ communication systems vs. the language of humans (D. Premack)

What are the reasons for the rise of humans and modern language? TED Talk by Y. N. Harari

Readings: Language in Mind: Introduction to Psycholinguistics, by Julie Sedivy 2018, ch. 2, pp. 9-31

Inventing and learning language

Gesturing, babbling, speaking, writing and signing

Language change: Survival of the fittest? Language diversity

The birth of a language documentary (Nicaragua sign language)

Readings: Sedivy, ch. 2, Evolution of speech, pp. 31-50

WEEK 3: Language and the Brain March 7

Learning about language in the brain from genetic disorders, specific language disorder and dyslexia

The quest to understand consciousness, TED Talk by A. Damasio

Understanding language, by J. Elman (lecture)

Readings: Sedivy, ch. 3, Genetic Disorders, pp. 54-67

Assignment: relevant web activities in http://sites.sinauer.com/languageinmind/
AND IF YOU WANT TO GO FURTHER...
Seeds of Speech, by Jean Aitchison, Cambridge U Press 2000, ch. 1
Researchers Debate the Origin of Language, by Marc Hauser 2002, in Harvard Gazette
and How human mind originated 2009

How does brain process, perceive and produce language?

Reading: Sedivy, ch. 3, pp. 67-84

McGilchrist,The Divided Brain, TED Talk

WEEK 5: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: LEARNING SOUND PATTERNS March 21

How infants learn: The nature of speaking;

Sound recognition and matching sounds to words;

Concepts and reference
TED Talk Pat Kuhl et al., Language, culture, mind and brain File
Reading: Learning sounds, in Sedivy, ch. 4
Recommended readings: Seeds of Speech, ch. 7, by J. Aitchison
Review: File 2.1-2.3 (Phonetics)
Assignment: Web activity in http://sites.sinauer.com/languageinmind/

How child learns language

What are the sounds and where are the words?

Readings: Sedivy, ch. 4, part II

and if you want to go further: Language and the mind, by Hickey, Raymond

Learning vs. growth, in Language in Use, by G. Diessel, pp. 313-19

Digital mind in an analog world, in Language Instinct, by S. Pinker 1994, pp. 269-87

Semiotic Landscape, by G. Kress and T. Leuwen, in Language in Use, pp. 344-9

ASSIGNMENT: Relevant web activities in Sedivy, online

The nature of speaking; Recognizing sounds and matching them to words;

Concepts and reference

Reading: Learning words, in Sedivy, ch. 5, part I

and more, i.e., Recommended readings:

Productivity and the Mental Lexicon, by Ingo Plag, in Language in Use, pp. 106-13
How do they do it?, by Steven Pinker
Tomasello, Michael, The usage based theory of language acquisition

Syntax review: File 5.1 and 5.4
ASSIGNMENT: Prepare a proposal to carry out research on any topic affiliated with the course (use the proposal form in our Moodle course please
prepare the relevant web activities, ch. 5, part I