第23讲 人类的荣耀—语言在线视频

你认为动物有语言吗
Do you think animals have language?

这个问题一直有争议
This issue has always been controversial

要回答这个问题
To answer this question

首先必须界定什么是语言
we must first define what is language

一般来说
Generally speaking

语言是一种社会现象
language is a kind of social phenomenon

是人类通过高度结构化的声音组合
It is a symbol system composed of highly structured voice combination

或通过书写符号 手势等构成的一种符号系统
writing symbols, gestures and so on

同时又是
At the same time

运用这种符号系统来交流思想的一种行为
language is a kind of behavior that uses this symbol system to exchange ideas.

心理学家对语言的使用很感兴趣
Psychologists are very interested in the use of language

在这里 我们主要关注两个问题
Here, we mainly focus on two issues

语言表达和语言理解
language expression and language comprehension.

语言表达的一个重要问题是听众设计
An important issue of language expression is audience design

也就是我们要产生语言时
that is, when we want to produce language

必须考虑语言的对象是谁
we must consider who the object of language is

必须能精确预测听你说话的人知道什么
and accurately predict what the listener knows

以及他能理解什么
and what he understands

比如 如果你的朋友打电话问你
For example, if your friend calls you and asks

“你在干嘛呢”
"what are you doing?"

你说：“我在和李彦宏吃饭呢？”
You said, "I'm having dinner with Robin Li."

你说这句话
If you say this

说明你假定你的朋友知道李彦宏是谁
you assume that your friend knows who Robin Li is

我们经常根据我们属于哪个团体
We often make use of what is the group we belong to

以及听我们说话的人属于哪个团体
and what is the group the people who listen to us belong to

来判断双方是否具有共同的知识
to judge whether the two sides have common knowledge

假如有同事在午饭时间打电话问我
If a colleague calls me at lunchtime and asks

“你在哪儿呢？我现在去找你”
"where are you? I'm going to see you now"

我说：“清真”
I said, "Halal"

如果发生了这段对话
If this dialogue happens

我们中央民族大学的学生和老师都理解
the students and teachers of Minzu University of China understand

我正在中央民族大学的清真餐厅吃饭
that I am eating in the Halal Restaurant of Minzu University of China

如果一位不知道我在中央民族大学工作的朋友打电话问我同样的问题
If a friend who doesn’t know I am with Minzu University of China calls to ask me the same question

我可能会说
I might say

“我在中央民族大学呢”
"I'm at Minzu University of China"

假如有同事问我
When a colleague asks me

“你在哪儿呢？我现在去找你。”
"where are you? I'm going to see you now"

我如果说 “我在中央民族大学呢”
if I say, "I'm at Minzu University of China"

对方可能会觉得我说的是废话
The colleague may think I'm talking rubbish

我们在说话的时候
When we are speaking

会根据双方的团体成员的身份
we will make use of the identity of the group members of both sides

判断对方知道什么
to judge what the other side knows

理解什么
and understands

只有这样 双方才能正常的交谈
Only in this way can the two sides talk normally.

下面我们谈一下语言理解
Let's talk about language understanding

语言是按照层次结构组织起来的
Languages are organized in a hierarchical structure

语言表达的基本形式是句子
The basic form of language expression is sentence

在句子的下面 可以分为短语
which can be divided into phrases

词 词素和音位等不同的层次
words, morphemes and phonemes

每个层次都包括一定的语言成分
Each level includes certain linguistic elements

以及把这些成分组织起来的语言规则
and linguistic rules that organize them

如语音规则 构词规则 句法规则等等
such as phonetic rules, word formation rules, syntactic rules, etc

人们按照这些规则
According to these rules

可以把音位组成语素
people can make phonemes into morphemes,

把语素组成单词
morphemes into words

把单词组成短语和句子
words into phrases and sentences

语言理解包括言语理解和阅读理解
Language comprehension includes speech comprehension and reading comprehension

在言语理解过程中
In the process of speech comprehension

我们需要借助于
we need to make use of

听觉输入的语言材料
auditory input language materials

也就是语音
that is, voice

构建出一定的意义
to build a certain meaning

这个过程中
In this process

语音的类似性
the pronunciation similarity

语音强度 噪音 语境 句法 语义 韵律特征等
pronunciation intensity, noise, context, syntax, semantics and prosodic features of speech

都会影响言语理解
will affect speech comprehension.

在阅读理解过程中
In the process of reading comprehension

需要在视觉输入文字材料的基础上建构出一定的意义
we need to construct a certain meaning on the basis of visual input of text materials

在这个过程中
In this process

需要在一定的语言背景中理解词汇
we need to understand vocabulary in a certain language background

在字词理解的基础上
On the basis of word understanding

运用句法分析
we need to use syntactic analysis

和语义分析来获得句子的语义
and semantic analysis to obtain sentence meaning

在句子理解的基础上
On the basis of sentence understanding

还要理解篇章的意义
we should also understand the meaning of the text

在篇章理解过程中
In the process of text understanding

经常发生推理过程
inference often occurs.

比如 假如有人问我要去哪里
For example, if someone asks me where I am going

我说
I say

我要去学校大门口见小明
I'm going to the gate of the school to meet Xiaoming

他说给我买了一个汉堡当午饭
He said he bought me a hamburger for lunch

为了理解这两个句子是如何连贯起来的
In order to understand how the two sentences are coherent

我们必须做出一些推论
we must make some inference

第一 必须搞清楚
First, it must be made clear

第二个句子中的“他”指的是小明
that "he" in the second sentence refers to Xiaoming

第二 “去大门口”
second, "I am going to the gate of the school"

是因为“小明给我买了一个汉堡”
because "Xiaoming bought me a hamburger"

第三 汉堡是可以当午饭的
third, hamburger can be used as lunch

这些联系都没有在说话的时候说出来
I don’t say any of these connections while speaking

因为我知道
because I know

听这句话的人能听出这些话之间的联系
that people who listen to this sentence can recognize the connection

如果对方完全不懂推论
If the person I talk to doesn't understand the inference at all

我们只能这么说
we can only say

我要去学校大门口见小明
I'm going to meet Xiaoming at the gate of the school

他说给我买了一个汉堡
He said he bought me a hamburger

我说的他指的是小明
I mean he is Xiaoming

汉堡可以当午饭
Hamburger can be used as lunch

现实生活中绝对不会有这样的语言
There will never be such a language in real life

因为人们都会在听语言的过程中进行推论
because everyone will infer in the process of listening to the language.

很多人都会猜测
A lot of people will guess

除了人类 其他动物有语言吗
besides human, do other animals have language?

心理学家分别从语言结构和听众设计这两方面
By studying language structure and audience design

考察了动物是否有语言的问题
psychologists investigate whether animals have language

心理学家以高等灵长类动物为对象 研究了动物使用符号的现象
Psychologists studied the use of symbols in higher primates.

人类语言的第一个特点是具有高度复杂的语言结构
The first characteristic of human language is its highly complex language structure

人类可以根据语法规则
According to grammar rules

使用有限的词汇
human beings can use limited vocabulary

产生无穷多的我们所需要的句子
to produce infinite sentences

表达无限的意思
and express infinite meanings

那么人类是不是唯一能够使用这种复杂的语法规则的物种呢
.Are humans the only species that can use this complex grammatical rule?

从20世纪20年代开始
Since the 1920s

心理学家就试图考察
psychologists have tried to examine the ability of

其他物种使用语法规则的能力
other species to use grammatical rules

他们教黑猩猩学习使用人类语言
They taught chimpanzees use human language

黑猩猩没有可以用来产生语言的发音器官
Chimpanzees don't have a voice organ that can be used to produce language

所以研究者想出了一些其他交流方法
so researchers have come up with some other ways of communication

比如 心理学家教会一只黑猩猩
For example, psychologists taught one chimpanzee

使用一种非常简单的美洲手语
to use a very simple American sign language

还教会另一只黑猩猩学会
they also taught another chimpanzee to

在一个磁板上操纵符号
manipulate symbols on a magnetic plate

但这些实验结果是否说明黑猩猩会使用语言呢
But whether these results suggest that chimpanzees can use language

这引起了强烈的质疑
raises strong questions

1998年
In 1998

有一位心理学家研究了倭黑猩猩
a psychologist studied bonobos

这是一种在进化上比普通黑猩猩更接近人类的类人猿
a kind of anthropoid ape that is more close to human than common chimpanzees in evolution

结果发现 两只倭黑猩猩没有接受外在的训练
It was found that two bonobos did not receive external training

只通过观察其他人类
Only by observing other humans

和其他倭黑猩猩使用符号进行交流的过程
and other bonobos using symbols to communicate

就学会了使用符号
they learned to use symbols

它们还能理解一些英语口语
They could also understand some spoken English

但是 我们要知道
However, we need to know

这些动物只具有非常有限的使用手势或符号的能力
that these animals only have very limited ability to use gestures or symbols

不能掌握可以产生无数言语的语法规则
and can not master the grammar rules that can produce countless words

其它跨物种的研究也支持了这个结论
Studies using other species support this conclusion

可以说
It can be said

只有人类通过进化获得了
that only human beings have acquired the mental ability to

产生和理解具有复杂语法结构的心理能力
produce and understand complex grammatical structures through evolution.

由于动物没有高度复杂的语言结构
Because animals do not have highly complex language structure

另外也有研究发现
in addition, some studies have found

动物不懂得“听众设计”
that animals do not know "audience design"

因此可以说 动物没有语言
so it can be said that animals do not have language

关于动物是否懂“听众设计”的问题
As for whether animals understand "audience design",

大家可以去查看附加学习材料
you can check the additional learning materials

好 今天的课就讲完了
OK, that’s all for today

现在回顾一下主要内容
Now let's review the main content

我们首先讲了什么是语言
We first talked about what language was

人类在使用语言过程中
In the process of using language

会根据语言对象的情况调整语言
human beings will adjust language according to the language objects

这就是听众设计
which is audience design

另外
In addition

人类能根据语法规则和推理活动理解高度结构化的语言
human beings can understand highly structured language according to grammatical rules and inference activities

由于最高级的灵长类动物
Because the most advanced primates

不能使用高度结构化的符号系统
can't use highly structured symbol systems

也不能进行听众设计
or design audiences

因此我们认为动物并没有语言
we think animals have no language

下次课
In the next lecture

我们将探讨
we will discuss

人类在解决问题过程中犯的那些小失误
the small mistakes that human beings make in solving problems

好 下次再见
OK, See you next time