Animal and Human Language
Talking to Animals
Teaching Animals Human Language
Controversy about Interpretation
Animals imitate rather than understand meaning
Limited Productivity compared to Humans
Washoe (chimpanzee)
Allen and Beatrix Gardner
100 signs
Sarah (chimpanzee)
Plastic symbols
130 symbols
Premack
Koko (gorilla)
Francine Patterson
Around 1000 signs
American Sign Language (ASL)
Kanzi (bonobo)
250 symbols
Observing training
Lexigrams
Characteristics of Human language
Duality
Morphemes: meaningful combinations
Phonemes: meaningless alone
Two levels
Sounds
Meaning
Displacement
Things not present in the imediate enviroment
Not limited to here and now
Talk about past/future
Abstract ideas
Emotions
Dreams
Cultural transmission
Social contact
Cultural environment
Learning
Interaction with others
Creativity
Unpredictable communication
Infinite sentences
Novel utterances
New expressions
Fixed reference
Flexibity of expression
Fixed meaning
Specific place
Specific time
Communication
Types of Signals
Informative
Communicative
Chemical (Pheromones)
Tactil
Visual
Auditory
Learned
Instinctive
Communicating
Basic Human Function
Shared with Animals
Purpose: Information traslate
Productivity
Limited Set of Sounds
Infinite Combinations
Bee Dances
Distance and Direction
The length and angle of the waggle tell other bees how far the food is and in what direction.
Sun Position
Bees use the angle between the food source and the sun to guide others during the dance.
Waggle Dance
Bees perform this dance to share food location. The waggle part shows direction and the number of waggles shows distance.
Functions of Communication
Expressive
Directive
Referential
Metalinguistic
Phatic
