Language (General)

by dhw, Wednesday, February 03, 2010, 12:33 (5405 days ago) @ dhw

Since language is regarded by some as a major distinction between humans and other species, you might like to consider the implications of discoveries made by Klaus Zuberbühler, a psychologist at St Andrews University who specializes in the cognitive capacities of non-human primates. According to an article in The Sunday Times a few weeks ago, he and his colleagues recorded thousands of monkey calls, having spent hundreds of hours observing the corresponding behaviour and learning the language of the apes.-It appears that they can pass on detailed information not only to one another, but also to other species of monkey and even to birds such as hornbills. Zuberbühler says that, for instance, the Campbell's monkey has "six call types, three of which can take a suffix. It means they can put the sounds into sequences that convey complex meanings." -The article goes on to say: "In the past few years researchers have been finding similar examples of sentience and self-awareness across the animal kingdom in species ranging from elephants and dolphins to crows and parrots. Even sheep, cows and pigs appear to be far more self-aware and to lead more emotionally charged lives than we have previously understood."-For anyone who believes in the broad thrust of evolution, this should not be surprising. We are descended from animals, and so of course we have inherited emotions and techniques of communication that enabled them to survive. The fact that our language is vastly more complex does not mean that their language is not language. A nest is simple compared to a 50-storey tower block, but the nest is still a form of architecture. The monkeys' "krack" or "boom boom" sound which changes its meaning with an added "ooo" may not correspond to our idea of syntax, but what Zuberbühler's team have shown is that instead of imposing our own rules, we need to learn theirs. It appears that on the way back to his camp in the Ivory Coast, they warned him that he was being stalked by a leopard. He lived to tell the tale!