Chapter 1 Answers to exercises: End-of-chapter exercises 1. It could be argued that the main function of communication is to create a change in the communicator’s behaviors. There are, of course, a large number of more specific functions, depending on the species communicating and the specific circumstances. 2. Among other characteristics, all communications systems have a sender, a receiver, a channel (or channels) of communication, a code, and feedback possibilities. 3. All living things communicate. Language is one type of communication—one that most linguistics would say is unique to humans. 4. Linguistic competence is all of the knowledge of a language’s grammar and lexicon that an individual has stored in the brain. Most of this knowledge is subconscious. 5. The sender is an organism that transmits a message (which is information) to a receiver who gets the message. A code is made up of units that are arranged in a specific way. To encode a message means to put those units into the proper pattern (for language, this would be called the grammar of the language). To decode a message means to ideally react to the message in the way it conforms in some way to the innate or learned purpose of the message. The channel of communication is the medium through which a message is transmitted. Communication is not simply a linear process. The receiver can become the sender by responding to the initial sender and sending their own message. The new receiver can than become the sender again, and so on. In other words, there can be feedback and feedback loops in communication. There can also be interference (noise) on the channel of communication that reduces the efficiency of the message. With animals that learn a portion of their code (as opposed to it being completely innate), there can be individual differences in how the message is sent and received. With humans, a person’s personality and their cultural background affect how a message is encoded and decoded, and therefore its meaning. 6. A lexicon is composed of all of the meaningful units of a language. A personal lexicon is all of the vocabulary stored in the brain. A grammar is the set of rules used to combine the lexical items in a standard way. The lexicon is composed of meaningful units. The grammar is the code (pattern) used to arrange those units. 7. Language, for most linguists, is a uniquely human cognitive system used to produce and understand precise meaningful utterances. Speech is an audible delivery system for language. Other delivery systems for language are signing and writing. 8. Humans can communicate through language using speech, writing, or sign language. 9. The terms verbal and vocal are not synonymous. To communicate verbally means to communicate using language. To communicate vocally means to communicate with sound (such as speech). 10. Although some researchers believe that some birds, such as Alex, can be taught some elements of language (in the broad sense of what language is defined to be), most researchers consider birds to be mimicking—that is, repeating what they hear without understanding. 11. Productivity is the ability to communicate about something that one has not communicated about before, and to react appropriately to a communicative act that one has not received before. A scout bee, finding food in a new location, will do a “dance”