Homework 3

Question 1 [4 points]
Look over this survey of the design features of communication systems, an expanded version of the one you saw before. Then, based on the discussion in the textbook, in class, and your other readings, construct a table comparing the design features in (i) the bees, and (ii) human language. Use all 13 features mentioned here - for each of the 13 features, note whether it is present or absent in the communication systems (i) and (ii), and note if it is limited, or if researchers differ about it.

Here is a summary for the system of bee dancing. The forager bees use movement patterns to communicate the location of a food source to the other bees in their hive. They dance around, and from time to time do a zig-zag run called the waggle dance. In 1947, Karl von Frisch correlated the runs and turns of the dance to the distance and direction of the food source from the hive. The orientation of the dance correlates to the relative position of the sun to the food source (left of the vertical means the food source is to the left of the sun, etc.), and the length (but not the form) of the waggle portion of the run is correlated to the distance from the hive. Also, the more vigorous the display is, the better the food. There is no evidence that this form of communication depends on individual learning; it is species-specific, and different subspecies of bees dance differently.

Question 2 [1 point]
We saw how children overgeneralise rules such as the plural rule, producing forms such as mans (for men) and foots (for feet).
What might a child learning English use instead of the adult words below, if the child overapplies the regular rules, instead of using the irregular forms?
a. children
b. went
c. worse
d. geese

Question 3 [2.5 points]
Consider the following examples of children's speech taken from Clark (1995), and answer the questions:

  1. [playing with a toy lawnmower] "I'm lawning"
  2. [pretending to be superman] "I'm supermanning."
  3. [realizing his father was joking' "Daddy, you joked me."
  4. [of food on his plate] "I'm gonna fork this."
i. In one sentence, explain what the children are doing with language (use the notions of "noun" and "verb").
ii. For each sentence, note the relationship between the action that the child's mistake denotes, and the person or thing which is the original meaning of the incorrectly used word (that is, what role does the person or thing play in the action). Note: please indicate this for each of the four examples above.
iii. Come up with one example of correct (adult) English usage that involves a verb that has the same relationship to a noun as one of the examples above.
For instance, in the sentence "The knight speared the pillow" the usage is similar to example 4 above (DO NOT use this same example).
Note: only one adult sentence is required, you can pick which relationship you will illustrate.

Question 4 [2.5 points]
Do exercise 7 on page 65 of the textbook (Creole Grammar). Make sure to answer every part of the exercise.