Why Do We Talk?: Some useful questions!

If we analyze the basics of language, one of the first questions that we ask ourselves are "Why do we talk?" and "How do we learn to talk?". This questions have not yet been answered. The following video shows an experiment that tries to understand how do we learn to talk. Then, I added some questions and what are my answer to them.

1. Which is the 'trick' (process) that enables us to communicate something to others?

The trick is to transfer our thoughts to other person by a sequence of sounds that both persons can understand.

2. Do animals talk? If not, What do they do to communicate?

They don't talk as we do, they just communicate by sounds. I think that the big difference between animal and human's communication is that our language have some determined rules that we must follow to understand each other, while the animals communication is way more basic and it's not proven that they can really understand each other. 

3. What do we express when we talk?

Thoughts, emotions, information, ideas.

4. What did Dr Deb Roy try to achieve in his house?

He tries to turn his own house in a language laboratory, where he can record 24/7, in order to analyze and study how the language develops in children.

5. Which are the earliest stages in language for a child?

Babbling goes first. Then he starts saying some basic words, like "dad" or "mom". After some time he starts putting two words together, for example "more milk" or "green car". Then, he will try to make short sentences and more complex structures.

6. What external and internal factors made the data recollected in the experiment into something they could use?

The raw data is useless. Therefore, experts have to transcribe it, analyze it, and observe how the people that surrounds the child and their way of talking affects the way the child develops his own language.

7. How did the parents' speech change from their son's first word until he could utter more complex structures?

When the child starts saying words, parents unconsciously simplify their language. After some time, they start using more complex sentences again.

8. What does Dr Deb Roy compare the "blossoming" of a speech form?

As young children can't utter or don't know a lot of words, they often try to say a sentence that they had heard "as it sounds" using noises like "ga...ga..." or "ba...ba...". Of course no one can understand those wrong-made sentences, but children try to copy what they hear from their parents.