Topic Name Description
File Final Review Questions

Final Review Questions

Page General information

Fall 2022, Monday 9:10–10:40 am, Oct. 3-Dec. 19, 2022

Prof. Eva Eckert, Ph.D. eeck233@gmail.com

Meetings at FF UK, Palachovo nám., rm 326

Office hours: Monday after the class at 10:40 or by appointment 
  1. Course description

HUMAN LANGUAGE and the MIND is a course in human thinking and speaking that deals with psychological, cognitive and anthropological aspects of language as a key to mind, intellect and creativity; interrelation of language, thoughts and brain; language in mediating experience, remembering and creating meaning; the instinctive, emotional and rational in our cognition; pre-linguistic cognition of hominids; children’s language acquisition; language diversity and memory.

Folder Student projects
File sample student projects

sample student projects

File Research proposal form to be submitted by Nov. 7
WEEK 1: ORIGINS OF SPEECH and MODERN MAN Oct.3 File Questions to tackle in class and notes
File The Day We Learned To Think
File Designing human language and mind
File Julie Sedivy, Language in Mind, Contents

Julie Sedivy, Language in Mind, Contents

URL J. Sedivy, Web activities, ch. 2 - 13
Page TED by Y.N. Harari

TED Talk

File The duality of patterning
File cartoon: How we communicate
WEEK 2: HUMAN LANGUAGE cf. animal communication systems 10 October File Sedivy ch. 2, part I
Page Šedivý, terms and concepts, ch. 2

Šedivý, terms and concepts, ch. 2

Page The day we learned to think, BBC 2003, 3-part series:

The day we learned to think documentary, BBC, 2003

URL TED Talk How language transformed humanity, by Mark Pagel

Biologist Mark Pagel shares an intriguing theory about why humans evolved our complex system of language. He suggests that language is a piece of "social technology" that allowed early human tribes to access a powerful new tool: cooperation.

File Questions and web activities: Language cf. animal communication systems
File Class 2 OUTLINE
WEEK 3: INVENTING LANGUAGE 17 Oct. File Sedivy ch. 2, part II
URL Inventing language in Nicaragua

Inventing language in Nicaragua

File OUTLINE and Question: Signs, gestures and language change
Week 4: Brain: Genetic disorders, SLI and dyslexia Oct 24 File Sedivy, Genetic and language impairment ch. 3
File Sedivy ch.3 pictures and graphs in color
File Notes and Questions: Genetic and other language impairments
File Questions on Genetic disorders, SLI and dyslexia, Sedivy 3, part 1
URL Grey matters: Understanding language, U of California lecture by J. Elman

Brain - min. 21 - 25 Broca's aphasia

using language - min. 28

brain lateralization - min. 43-4 end

URL Human Brain: Major Structures and their Functions
WEEK 5: MAPPING LANGUAGE in the BRAIN Oct 31 File Questions: Where language is in the brain and how to find out
File What scans showed
File Functional anatomy
URL Aphasia and its language effects ppp
URL Science Bulletins: Language in the Brain, Columbia U lab fMRI video

Science Bulletins: Language in the Brain, Columbia U video

URL Tracing thoughts in your brain in real time, TED Talk by Christopher deCharms 2008

technology of self-control of one’s brain – pain, depression, love, anxiety we “feel”

65000 points (or more) of activation in the brain generated by the seen, heard or remembered

Memories form deep channels in the brain

3D models

URL How to look inside the brain, TED Talk by Carl Schoonover, 2012

brain’s wiring by staining wiring tissue

neurons entering into circuits

molecular components of neurons

URL The_divided_brain, TED Talk by Iain Mcgilchrist

The_divided_brain, TED Talk by Iain Mcgilchrist

URL Powerful stroke of insight, TED Talk by Jill Bolte-Taylor
URL TED H. Markram_Neocortex and cerebral columns; and other brain's secrets

Henry Markram_Supercomputing the_brain's secrets

Neocortex in the human brain

WEEK 6: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: LEARNING SOUND PATTERNS Nov. 7 File REVIEW Tasking the brain How our mind deals with language sounds
File L in Mind ch4 Sounds p 105-119
URL Pat Kuhl, TED Talk
File Sound assimilation cartoon
File Consonant chart
File Consonant symbols and word examples
File Vowel phonetic symbols and examples
File Vowel triangle graph
File Questions
Week 7: How infants learn from the sound input and gain the naming insight Nov. 14 File Qs Notes Phms perception naming
File L in Mind ch4 Sounds p 120-
File Phoneme, categorical perception and naming insight in infant learning
WEEK 8: INFANTS LEARNING WORDS Nov. 21 File Doing WORDS: Outline, ch. 5
File WORD learning notes and Questions

WORD learning notes and Questions

File Sedivy, ch. 5, Learning words, part I
URL Reading each other's mind, TED Talk by R.Saxe

​ How to read each other's mind , TED Talk

URL How children learn words, Deb Roy's TED Talk
Week 9: Complex words: Patterns or rules? Nov. 28 File Derivational trees of English words
File Sedivy, ch. 5, Words, part II
File Word rules, analogy and memory
WEEK 10: LANGUAGE LOGIC: BUILDING SENTENCES Dec 5 File ch. 6 OUTLINE
File Language Files 5 Syntax cartoon

Language Files 5 Syntax cartoon

File Sedivy, Syntax, ch. 6, part I
File How our mind builds sentences: The "trees"
File American high-scholers' sentences to analyze
File Questions
WEEK 11: LANGUAGE DIVERSITY Dec. 12, 2022 File Sedivy, ch. 12, pp 471-95
File Diversity: Language universals and cognitive biases QUESTIONS

Diversity: Language universals and cognitive biases QUESTIONS 

WEEK 12: LANGUAGE DIVERSITY Dec. 19, 2022 File Sedivy, ch. 12, part 2, pp 496-518
File Concepts and words
File Bilingualism
File Diversity Questions
File Diversity: Patterns and biases