ANIMAL COMMUNICATION ANDHUMAN LANGUAGE

LCD 101: Intro to LanguageFall 2011

Ryan

Overview

• What are the properties of human language?• What is the difference between communication and language?• What is cultural transmission?• What is instinct and is it transmitted?• Can other species acquire language? • Can animals be taught to use human language or are they simply mimicking?

Communicative vs Informative Signals

• Communicative signals are intentional and carry meaning•Informative signals are not intentional but still carry meaning• I am sitting at the desk in the front of the room (information: I must be the professor)• I say to you that I am here to teach the class (intentional: I am the professor)

Communicative vx. Informative Signals

• Animals can be informative: a bird may suddenly fly away at the approach of a predator (information: we deduce that the bird must be frightened) Animals can be communicative: A bird may make a loud squawk at the sight of a predator (communication: Hey everyone, lookout! Something is going to eat us!!)

Properties of Human Language Reflexivity Displacement Arbitrariness Productivity Cultural Transmission Duality

Properties of Human Language Reflexivity: Humans are able to reflect. They are

able to talk about, or reflect on language itself. Without this ability, we could not even talk about the other properties of language.

Dogs are able to bark at each other, but they are probably not barking about barking itself!

Properties of Human Language Displacement: Humans can talk about the past,

present and future Yesterday, I saw a movie. Today, I’m staying home. Next week, I’m….

Humans can talk about things that don’t exist or we can’t see.

Yesterday, Grandpa went to heaven... Tomorrow, the Tooth Fairy is coming…

Properties of Human Language Animal communication is about the

here and now: “meow, meow!!” I am hungry NOW (not next week)

“bark, bark!!” An intruder is at the door NOW! (not yesterday)

Animals can’t displace in either time or space:

“Bark, bark!” There is a problem! Help! NOT “Timmy fell into a well over on the old Cotter Farm 3 miles

away!! Drive down Cook Lane and help him!”(Good girl, Lassie!)

Properties of Human Language Arbitrariness: There is no natural connection

between a word’s form and its meaning (with the possible exception of our old friend, onomatopeia)

A written word doesn’t look like its meaning: “star” “estrella” “stella” Even thought you can play games with it:

BIG little Soft Hard

Properties of Human Lanugage Animal communicative sounds are closely

correlated with their meanings: Think of a cat: grrr hissss meow

screech! purrrr…. It doesn’t use a variety of sounds to express these conditions. These sounds always mean the one thing they mean.

Vervet monkeys have 36 cries of warning for different predators, but…

An animals “vocabulary” is finite. Limited.

Properties of Human Language Honey Bee Dance Language Bees use intricate combinations of dance

movements and tail waggling to communicate the location of nectar (food) sources to other bees in the hive.

The dance is a figure eight with movements of the tail to indicate location in relation to the azimuth of the sun. Speed of waggle indicates distance.

Has been studied by Janda (1973) to have linguistic (syntactic) properties.

HOWEVER the language is finite – can’t create new moves or waggles to indicate “up” for example.

Properties of Human Lanugage Productivity: Human vocabulary and sentences are

infinite, open-ended: We can create new words in our LEXICON, like texting,

googling, new slang…examples???? In unlimited combinations….. “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” (Noam

Chomsky)

We have a morphology (word-forming rules) and a grammar (with sentence structure rules) which allow us to combine new words in new structures..

Infinite diversity in infinite combinations (Star Trek)

Properties of Human Language

Cultural Transmission: We acquire our speech from the environment we are raised in, our culture, which includes our language, our accent, our expressions.

While a meow is a meow is a meow, wherever; it is instinctual, inborn.

Some birds both are born with some calls and songs instinctually and some are learned

Properties of Human Language 7 week window for birds: If birds are not

exposed to bird song in the first 7 weeks, they will still produce songs, but abnormal ones. Song-singing is instinctual.

7 year window for children: If a child is not exposed to language within the first 7 years, it will develop no language at all . Language is not instinctual : it is learned in the cultural environment. More properly, it is acquired.

Properties of Human Language Duality: Human language is

organized at two levels: The sounds (PHONETICS) which

carry no individual meaning and The combinations of sounds

(PHONOLOGY and MORPHOLOGY) which carry meaning.

Economical: with a limited number of discrete sounds, we can produce an infinite number of meanings

Properties of Human Language Animal sounds can’t be broken down

into levels woof = *w + oo = f *oofw *foow Human words can: Meow = m+ e + o + w me ow woe

Animal Communication

Does your dog understand you when you say, “Sit” “Heel” “Roll Over”

Answer: He doesn’t know the word roll means “turn” and over means “other side”

His reaction (to roll over) is a conditioned response to a stimulus (your command sound of “roll over”).

But can we talk to or with some animals?

Viki the chimp: Researchers tried to tach a young chimpanzee to articulate English words. Her vocal tract was not up to the challenge.

Washoe the chimp and Koko the gorilla: Taught ASL in a home-like environment; learned over 100 signs; could create new signs; could create new sentences by combining signs. Evidence of language ability by primates?

Animal Communication

Nim Chimpsky the chimp: named as a parody of the name of Noam Chomsky, the famed linguist, chimp was found by researchers to merely repeat ASL signs and not “converse” as claimed in the Washoe and Koko cases.

However, he was kept in a cage and not exposed to a rich linguistic environment.

Animal Communication

Alex the Parrot: The term “to parrot” means to repeat

something without understanding it. What about Alex? Raised for 31 years by researcher

Irene Pepperberg, Alex developed a vocabulary of several hundred words and could use them appropriately in combinations. Could use language to solve complex problems.

Animal Communication

So, can we talk to animals, at least to primates and parrots?

Study Questions

1. why is reflexivity considered to be a special property of human language?

2. what kind of evidence is used to support the idea that language is culturally transmitted?

What is the difference between a communication system with productivity and one with fixed reference?

4. How do we know that Washoe was not simply repeating signs made by interacting humans?

Study Questions

5. If a chimpanzee could use a grey plastic shape to convey the meaning of “red” what does that mean that her language has?

6. What might be the properties of body language?

7. Can primates invent new sign combinations?

8. Can they understand structures that contain complex word orders, such as conditionals?

9. Why does Pepperberg eliminate words such as a, an, the, is, this, etc when she speaks with Alex?

What is the difference between Alex and Einstein’s verbal abilities?

Homework

Read Chapter 3, The Sounds of Language. We will do the study questions in class.

References:

The Study of Language. 2010. Yule, George. 4th Edition.

An Introduction to Language. 2009. Fromkin, et. al. 9th Edition

Alex and Me. Pepperberg. Various video clips. Retrieved 2011.

YouTube.