← Back to Concept Indexarbitrary-symbolism
Human language is characterized by the arbitrary association of sound symbols with meanings, unlike instinctual animal calls.
1 chapter across 1 book
chapter I LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION THE search for synthetic inteUigence must begin with an inquiry into the origin of natural inteUigence, that is, into the working of our own brain, its sole creator at present. Although the study of human speech and language is not the most direct approach to how the brain functions, there is perhaps a grain of truth in Fournie's surmise that human speech may well be a window through which the physiologist can observe cerebral life. He may have been led to it by Paul Broca's discovery of the fact that aphasia or loss of speech is caused by destruction of a certain relatively small area of the cortex in the domi- nant hemisphere of man.* This is not to say that speech is located there in the way the United States gold reserves are hoarded at Fort Knox, but that this small area is used as an essential part of a func- tional mechanism employed while the individual speaks, writes, reads, or listens to others who speak. For despite the damage to the area in question a man can still think and carry out other forms of voluntary activity even if the speech mechanism is paralyzed. In other words, the human engine continues to run although it has ceased to whistle. Since Broca's discovery a great deal of work on cerebral mechanisms of speech has been done by neurophysiologists like Penfield, Roberts, and others. But the core of their work amounts to showing that al- though the brain of man in outward form is not so very different from that of other mammals like the dog or monkey, there is within it a fur- ther sophistication of cerebral organization that makes human speech possible. It is this unique cerebral endowment of man that confers on * Just as Hippocrates identified the brain itself as the seat of consciousness at a time when the heart was looked upon as the repository of mind and spirit, from the observation that paralysis of one side of the body might result from an injury to the hemisphere on the other side. 1The chapter explores the origins of natural intelligence through the study of human language and speech, emphasizing the unique cerebral organization that enables humans to communicate via arbitrary sound symbols. It highlights the evolutionary precedence of language over toolmaking in humans and discusses the biological and cognitive features that distinguish human language from animal communication. Additionally, the chapter addresses the social and cultural implications of language, including the challenges posed by linguistic diversity and the need for linguistic integration to foster better understanding among nations.