Animal Language

Animal Language
Yule, George (1996). The Study of
Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. (chapter 4)
Animal Language
Do animals understand spoken
language?
Whoa to horses they stop
Heel to dogs  they follow at heel
Standard explanation:
S R (Stimulus – Response)
Teaching chimpanzees
Luella and Winthrop KELLOG
(1930)
Infant chimpanzee Gua
Raised together with their infant son
Gua understood about 100 words but
did not say any of them
Teaching chimpanzees
Catherine and Keith HAYES (1940s)
reared Viki as if she were a human child
shaped her mouth as she produced sounds
Viki managed to produce words: mama,
papa and cup (poorly articulated)
Teaching chimpanzees
Beatrix and Allan GARDNER (1966)
Female chimpanzee Washoe
American sign language
Over period of 3 ½ years
Washoe used signs for more than 100
words (airplane, banana, window,
woman, you...)
Washoe
developed the ability to produce
sentences
Gimme tickle, more fruit, open
food drink (refrigerator)
understood far more signs than
she could actually produce
Teaching chimpanzees
Ann and David Premack (1972)
chimpanzee Sarah
set of plastic shapes for
communicating
shapes represented words e.g.
blue triangle  apple
Sarah
vertical order to build sentences
Mary give chocolate Sarah.
understood complex structures
such as:
If Sarah put red and green, Mary
give Sarah chocolate.
Teaching chimpanzees
Duane Rumbaugh (1977)
chimpanzee Lana
used artificial language Yerkish
set of symbols on a large
keyboard linked to a computer
Lana
could press up to four symbols in
the correct sequence to produce
messages
e.g.: please machine give water.
Teaching chimpanzees
Herbert Terrace (1979)
arguments against the evidence of
linguistic abilities in animals
chimp: Nim Chimsky (play on the
linguist Noam Chomsky)
Nim Chimsky
American Sign Language under
controlled conditions
videotaping of classroom
activities
over a two year period
Nim Chimsky
produced a large number of single-word
signs
developed two-word combinations such as
more drink, give banana
Nim’s longer utterances were simply a
repetition of simpler structures, not an
expansion into more complex structures
Similar experiments
Clever Hans: German horse
could use his hoof beats to answer
arithmetical questions
responded to subtle visual clues
Dolphins
 Buzz and Doris (1960s)
 Means of signalling across an opaque barrier
 Doris was able to tell Buzz how he could get a
fish snack
 when Doris saw a flashing light she had to press
a paddle on the left hand side and tell Buzz to do
the same
 when the light was kept steady Doris had to press
the right hand paddle
Dolphins
behaviour was just conditioned
responses
Doris would continue to tell Buzz
when he could see the light
himself and even when he was
taken out of the tank
Noam Chomsky
‘the acquisition of even the barest
rudiments of language is quite
beyond the capacity of an
otherwise intelligent ape.‘

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