Ling101 Animal Languages

8/2/2019 Ling101 Animal Languages

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Animal vs. Human

Language

LING101-S01

August 27, 2009


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Quickwrite #1

When linguists argue that animalsother than humans do not havelanguage, they do NOT mean thatother animals lack the means tocommunicate. They mean that noother animal has a system of

communication like humanlanguage. What are some uniqueproperties of human language you

can think of?


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Communication

Communication involves theprovision of information (via a signal)by a sender to a receiver, and

subsequent use of this informationby the receiver in deciding how orwhether to respond Bradbury &

Vehrencamp (1998)


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Example animalcommunication


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Properties of humanlanguage

Displacement We can talk about things and events in different

time and place

Cultural transmission

The culture in which a person is brought updetermines the language he/she acquires

Duality Human language is organized at two different levels:

one specializing in the form and the other in themeaning

Arbitrariness Relation between the form and the meaning is

arbitrary

Productivity

Humans can create new expressions and novelutterances by combining discrete linguistic units in a


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Properties of humanlanguage

Specialization Language signals do not serve any other type of

purpose such as breathing or feeding

Use of vocal-auditory channel

Language signals are sent using the vocal organsand received by the ears

Non-directionality Language signals can be picked up by anyone within

hearing range

Reciprocity Any sender of a language signal can also be a

receiver

Prevarication We can lie and deceive


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A Challenge

Language is innate and unique to thehuman species - Noam Chomsky

Can animals learn human language,or at least a fragment of it, if theywere raised in an environment likeinfants?

Horses, pigeons, dogs are not goodcandidates

Perhaps apes may be good candidates


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Washoe

Raised in a domesticenvironment

Researchers used ASLwhen Washoe was

around Learned to use signs

for more than 100words Invented a novel sign

for bib Combined signs for

water and bird to referto swan

Combined signs to

express gimme tickle,more fruit, open food


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Nim Chimpsky

Project Nim 44 months in NY from

1973 One week old infant male

chimpanzee

Lived initially in aresearchers home inManhattan, later in auniversity ownedmansion in Bronx

Sole student in a Psychclassroom at Columbia

University, taught bymore than 60 volunteerteachers

Researchers dictated hisutterances andvideotaped his interactionwith the teachers withoutbeing seen


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Kanzi

Learned to matchsymbols withobjects

Spontaneouslybegan to learn thesymbol system byobserving another

bonobo strugglingto learn

Clip 1, Clip 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxmbjLoUnhkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxmbjLoUnhk


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Group discussion

Did the apes learn something similarto human language?

Yes? Why?

No? Why not?

Cannot decide? What more informationdo you need?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channel


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Criticism

Terrace, H. (1979). How Nim ChimpskyPsychology Today,13, 65-76. (Link topdf available on class website)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE&feature=channelhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/terrace/w1001/readings/terrace.pdfhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/terrace/w1001/readings/terrace.pdfhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/terrace/w1001/readings/terrace.pdfhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/terrace/w1001/readings/terrace.pdfhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/terrace/w1001/readings/terrace.pdfhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/terrace/w1001/readings/terrace.pdfhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/terrace/w1001/readings/terrace.pdfhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/terrace/w1001/readings/terrace.pdf


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Terrace on previousexperiments

Monkey-at-the-typewriter experiment Some English like word-sequences can be

generated purely by chance

It is possible that the apes have merely

memorized a sequence of signs/symbolssimply to produce for reward (like pressing asequence of buttons of a vending machine)

It is not certain whether the apes understandhow component signs/symbols of a sequenceare related to the reward What if Mary give me in Mary give me

banana meant nothing more than a fewbuttons to press before saying banana?


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Terrace on Project Nim

Multi-sign utterances About 20,000 instances of utterances consisting

of two or more signs in two-year period 1,378 of these unique

Some signs were regularly fixed to a particularposition more in the first position 85% give in the first position 78% Transitive verbs (e.g. hug, tickle, give) combined with

me and Nim in the first position 83%

They did not seem like imitations of what theteacher said

The teacher has little reason to say things like tickleme

Nim used some signs way before the teacher started

using them in conversation


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Average length of utterance by Nimin his last two years in NY = 1.1 ~1.6 signs

Similar to children when they begin tocombine words

Although there was steady increasein the vocabulary size, length of hisutterance did not increase

give orange me give eat orange meeat orange give me eat orange give

me you


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Nim may have merely imitatedteachers

Only 12% spontaneous, 88% preceded

by a teachers utterance

Less than 10% of his utterance includedexpansions (adding one or more words

to teachers prior utterance) Nim showed high tendency to

interrupt, i.e. did not respect turn-

taking

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