An ethological approach to language through the study of speech perception.
| Number | 296 |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979 |
| Drawer | 5 |
| Entry Date | 06/03/1999 |
| Authors | Liberman, A. M. |
| Contact | |
| Publication | In M. von Cranach, K. Poppa, W. Lepenies, & D. Ploog (Eds.), Human ethology (pp. 682-704). Cambridge: Cambridge Press. |
| url | http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0296.pdf |
| Abstract | [Introduction] It is, I hope, appropriate to the purposes of this volume that my approach be the reverse of that taken by Peter Marler (chapter 10.1). Where he beings with the biology of communication in animals and looks toward man, I would begin with the biology of language in man and look toward the animals. I should emphasize that my aim is to complement what he has said, not to contradict it. Indeed, there is nothing I would want to contradict, for I find in his contribution the best hope we have for understanding certain aspects of human communication. I think especially in this connection of the seminal research on the learning of song by certain birds. That work has greatly enlightened us about the acquisition of language by children; more so, by a striking irony, the most of those vastly more numerous studies of language learning in humans that investigated the memorization of lists of unconnected (or unnaturally connected) words. Perhaps there is a lesson here for us human ethologists, which is that we can learn about language from birdsong if only because both are systems with biological function and biological integrity, whereas the rote learning of lists of words is not. But I will say little more about the work Peter Marler has described. I will only express my admiration, acknowledge my debt, and then take my own stance, which is, as I said, 180 degrees away. |
| Notes |
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