4 ms·

Gorillas can use sign language, dogs can use speaking buttons, I’m sure dolphins or orcas could be taught something we would recognise as language, maybe even c

by nico_h 6y ago

Gorillas can use sign language, dogs can use speaking buttons, I’m sure dolphins or orcas could be taught something we would recognise as language, maybe even chimpanzé

robertfw 6y ago
There's quite a bit of speculation that dolphins, orcas, and sperm whales are already using communication with sufficient complexity to be seen as language. Here's a great talk that sent me on a recent youtube dive on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9boP9pksM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9boP9pksM
- discreteevent 6y ago
  I think it was the sleeve notes of "Stop making sense" by Talking Heads that had a lot of little aphorisms and one of them was something like: 'Dolphins are very smart but they don't want to talk to us'
wombatmobile 6y ago
Ha! How about... other people?
powersnail 6y ago
In the case of Gorilla, I think it wasn't quite the level of sign language that it learned, but vocabularies and phrases. I had a psychology professor who was part of the research teaching Koko sign language. And according to him, what Koko learned was really impressive, more than they anticipated. But it was still fundamentally different from human language. It was a long time ago, and I don't recall what exactly was lacking. It could be on the lines of grammatical structures, that for Koko, there was no difference between "not want banana" and "want banana not". She didn't have an idea of what the negation was directed at. In the eye of linguistic psycholinguistics, the difference wasn't trivial. In contrast, human children, even with limited vocabulary, could grasp and even invent grammars.
- JackFr 6y ago
  https://slate.com/technology/2014/08/koko-kanzi-and-ape-language-research-criticism-of-working-conditions-and-animal-care.html https://slate.com/technology/2014/08/koko-kanzi-and-ape-lang... The science isn't there for gorillas communicating like humans. No publications, no data and Robin Williams anecdotes instead. If there was something there one would think there would be more scientists doing research down that path.
- crooked-v 6y ago
  > In contrast, human children, even with limited vocabulary, could grasp and even invent grammars. The most prominent example would be Nicaraguan Sign Language, which was spontaneously invented over only a few years by deaf schoolchildren, ages four to sixteen, who had little or no other language.

by nico_h 6y ago

Gorillas can use sign language, dogs can use speaking buttons, I’m sure dolphins or orcas could be taught something we would recognise as language, maybe even chimpanzé

robertfw 6y ago

There's quite a bit of speculation that dolphins, orcas, and sperm whales are already using communication with sufficient complexity to be seen as language. Here's a great talk that sent me on a recent youtube dive on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9boP9pksM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9boP9pksM

discreteevent 6y ago
I think it was the sleeve notes of "Stop making sense" by Talking Heads that had a lot of little aphorisms and one of them was something like: 'Dolphins are very smart but they don't want to talk to us'

wombatmobile 6y ago

Ha! How about... other people?

powersnail 6y ago

In the case of Gorilla, I think it wasn't quite the level of sign language that it learned, but vocabularies and phrases. I had a psychology professor who was part of the research teaching Koko sign language. And according to him, what Koko learned was really impressive, more than they anticipated. But it was still fundamentally different from human language. It was a long time ago, and I don't recall what exactly was lacking. It could be on the lines of grammatical structures, that for Koko, there was no difference between "not want banana" and "want banana not". She didn't have an idea of what the negation was directed at. In the eye of linguistic psycholinguistics, the difference wasn't trivial. In contrast, human children, even with limited vocabulary, could grasp and even invent grammars.

JackFr 6y ago
https://slate.com/technology/2014/08/koko-kanzi-and-ape-language-research-criticism-of-working-conditions-and-animal-care.html https://slate.com/technology/2014/08/koko-kanzi-and-ape-lang... The science isn't there for gorillas communicating like humans. No publications, no data and Robin Williams anecdotes instead. If there was something there one would think there would be more scientists doing research down that path.
crooked-v 6y ago
> In contrast, human children, even with limited vocabulary, could grasp and even invent grammars. The most prominent example would be Nicaraguan Sign Language, which was spontaneously invented over only a few years by deaf schoolchildren, ages four to sixteen, who had little or no other language.