abel language questions 2

 

1. What are the functions of language?  Just provide the main ones Abel describes. one of the functions of language is to transmitt information. the other function of language is to act expressively. the examples of the functions are poems that abel provides.
2. What is significant about the story of the tribal boys and the table? the significance of the story is the language can be interpreted in different ways to diffrernt people
3. What is the “inscrutability of reference?” (p. 228) the inscrutability of referance is that there is no alternative for leraning the meaning of a word.
4. What does Abel mean when he says that “Words are mere breaths of air, or scribbled pencil marks, but as used in a ‘language game’ by a speech community they are not arbitrary? “( p. 228) abel means that words arent anything unless they are used by the community in a way that conveys meaning.
5. What is the difference between Animal and Human Language? animal language is differant than human language because in animal language there are specific sounds and utterances for specific situations and behaviors.   
6. What is Chomsky’s argument on how humans learn language?  Be specific about linguistic competence. chomsky's argument on how humans learn language is that the ability already implanted in the mind of hunans which gives humans comptance in learning language. 
7. What does Abel think about Chomsky’s argument? abel thinks that language is not something that is pre-learned, but is learned through exposure.
8. How would you answer Abel’s questions:” Would an infant learn to speak, although isolated from adults, he were constantly within earshot of a radio?” (p. 231) i think that an infant would learn to speak if he was in earshot of a radio because he would be exposed to some sort of language that has structure. also infants learn to speak from repetition of language and not constant lessons.
9. Why does Abel believe that “language is not in fact unique in the spectrum of human capacities?” (p. 231) abel believes that language is not unique because it is only way in which humans communicate.
10. What does Abel mean when he says: “We all learn these codes of stance, mannerism, gesture, tactility, interpersonal behavior…yet we are equally unable to state them fully”? (p. 232) hunmans know what each gesture looks like and what meaning it is trying to convey. however, we cannot fully understand why we interpret them as meaning what we conveu them to mean.