4 ms·

Parrots can't talk

by owenpalmer 4y ago

Parrots can't talk

earleybird 4y ago
Parrots parrot parrots?
- withinboredom 4y ago
  Parrots parroting parrots parodying parrots.
  - bhawks 4y ago
    Obviously we are the smart ones with our wonderfully clear, expressive, and concise language. /s --kind of. We really need to be aware of our own biases and biological limitations if we actually want to study and understand the ability of other animals to have complex communications. Birds experience reality differently than we do - they see more of visible spectrum, they can make multiple sounds at once, etc. I wouldn't be surprised that what they can hear and how they perceive things like time is very different then us. Anyone observing parrots, crows, and other highly social avians can see they have complex relationships.
capableweb 4y ago
Guess it depends on what you mean exactly with "talk". They can articulate phrases, isn't that enough?
- cactusplant7374 4y ago
  It's not language. It's basically mimicking humans. Noam Chomsky on Nim Chimpsky and the Emergence of Language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a39vcatTCVU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a39vcatTCVU Chomsky has a few other interviews where he addresses this.
  - pks016 4y ago
    You are correct. It is speech not language.
    - cactusplant7374 4y ago
      But it's almost not communicating as humans do -- something most commenters are implying.
  - withinboredom 4y ago
    You don’t need a language to communicate (ask my cat — or any cat/dog). You also don’t need words, but colloquially, “talking” means using words, not using language. Someone talking to you with random noises you can reproduce would still be called “talking” whether or not it was a language. In other words a baby saying “milk” because it wants milk doesn’t mean you should ignore it because it isn’t using a “language.”
    - elpocko 4y ago
      > (ask my cat Ok. Hi cat. Do you need language to communicate? Plz respond.
  - TexanFeller 4y ago
    > It's not language. It's basically mimicking humans. I owned a parrot for a few years. The speech she had was like a tape recorder, she could mostly only play back what she heard in an identical manner. But she was able to play back pieces of appropriate snippets in the right context to express herself to a level that I'd call it talking. It's not normal "speech", but if you gave an otherwise normal human with damaged speech centers in their brain a tape recorder it's very much like that.
withinboredom 4y ago
[deleted due to unintended double-entendre]
- bhaney 4y ago
  Well now I gotta know
ggm 4y ago
Parrots talk to each other.
krackers 4y ago
Only stochastically.
jedberg 4y ago
They can certainly communicate their wants and needs with words. Some have shown the ability to communicate abstract thoughts and feelings. Why do you say they can't talk?
WakoMan12 4y ago
yes i can
junon 4y ago
I have a parrot. He can talk, both contextually and randomly (the former much less often, but does still happen). Not sure what your criteria for "talking" are but, by all of my own measures, my parrot sounds pretty much exactly like me in most cases, and like a child in most others. The words are clearly distinguishable, understandable, and in multiple languages (he lives in a multi-language household). So, yes. Parrots can talk. Can they converse? Sometimes loosely, usually not at all. But they can very much talk. If you mean that parrots do not understand the words and construction they are speaking, sure. But at that point you're splitting hairs. My parrot says "do you want it?" when he wants a treat. He says "good night" when he wants to go to bed. He says "c'mon!" when he wants me to come to him. He absolutely talks. Weird hill to die on.
- Izmaki 4y ago
  My parrot will on every occasion that it stumbles, let out a surprised "Oh!" followed by a "Good boy!" when he gets back up again. I didn't sit around all day teaching him to say "Oh!" whenever I pushed him off the branch and praise him when he got back up again. I also don't tell myself I'm a "Good boy!" whenever I get back up from a stumble (which thankfully doesn't happen often at home to begin with). I'm sure my parrot doesn't know what "Oh!" or "Good boy" means, that is what the words mean in a human context. I'm also sure that he doesn't know what snapping finger noise followed by a stern "Ah-ah!" means, but he has used that on one occasion when he was mad at me and wanted to tell me to back off if I treasured the skin on my hands. (A learned behaviour from his first and previous owner). ...but at the end of the day, speech is in many ways "just" a series of correct sounds at correct times in correct situations, right? Does my parrot have a conversation with me? Well yes, sometimes, but not with words. Does my parrot mimic human words and phrases? Also yes, and sometimes in the most perfect situations possible.
  - yazzku 4y ago
    From your description, it does sound like your Parrot has some understanding of meaning, much like dogs do. Not that they understand the grammar or can make out the individual words, but it seems like it can correlate <real world event> with <sounds>. <get back up> -> "Good boy"; <caught you right where I wanted you> -> "<snap> + Ah-ha!". Similarly, a dog may not understand that "sit" is an English word, but it can clearly understand "sit" -> <get that ass on the floor> (or whatever language you used to train them, they couldn't care less). That association is meaning, even if they are not fully acquainted with the works of Shakespeare.

Parrots can't talk

earleybird 4y ago

Parrots parrot parrots?

withinboredom 4y ago
Parrots parroting parrots parodying parrots.
- bhawks 4y ago
  Obviously we are the smart ones with our wonderfully clear, expressive, and concise language. /s --kind of. We really need to be aware of our own biases and biological limitations if we actually want to study and understand the ability of other animals to have complex communications. Birds experience reality differently than we do - they see more of visible spectrum, they can make multiple sounds at once, etc. I wouldn't be surprised that what they can hear and how they perceive things like time is very different then us. Anyone observing parrots, crows, and other highly social avians can see they have complex relationships.

capableweb 4y ago

Guess it depends on what you mean exactly with "talk". They can articulate phrases, isn't that enough?

cactusplant7374 4y ago
It's not language. It's basically mimicking humans. Noam Chomsky on Nim Chimpsky and the Emergence of Language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a39vcatTCVU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a39vcatTCVU Chomsky has a few other interviews where he addresses this.
- pks016 4y ago
  You are correct. It is speech not language.
  - cactusplant7374 4y ago
    But it's almost not communicating as humans do -- something most commenters are implying.
- withinboredom 4y ago
  You don’t need a language to communicate (ask my cat — or any cat/dog). You also don’t need words, but colloquially, “talking” means using words, not using language. Someone talking to you with random noises you can reproduce would still be called “talking” whether or not it was a language. In other words a baby saying “milk” because it wants milk doesn’t mean you should ignore it because it isn’t using a “language.”
  - elpocko 4y ago
    > (ask my cat Ok. Hi cat. Do you need language to communicate? Plz respond.
- TexanFeller 4y ago
  > It's not language. It's basically mimicking humans. I owned a parrot for a few years. The speech she had was like a tape recorder, she could mostly only play back what she heard in an identical manner. But she was able to play back pieces of appropriate snippets in the right context to express herself to a level that I'd call it talking. It's not normal "speech", but if you gave an otherwise normal human with damaged speech centers in their brain a tape recorder it's very much like that.

withinboredom 4y ago

[deleted due to unintended double-entendre]

bhaney 4y ago
Well now I gotta know

ggm 4y ago

Parrots talk to each other.

krackers 4y ago

Only stochastically.

jedberg 4y ago

They can certainly communicate their wants and needs with words. Some have shown the ability to communicate abstract thoughts and feelings. Why do you say they can't talk?

WakoMan12 4y ago

yes i can

junon 4y ago

I have a parrot. He can talk, both contextually and randomly (the former much less often, but does still happen). Not sure what your criteria for "talking" are but, by all of my own measures, my parrot sounds pretty much exactly like me in most cases, and like a child in most others. The words are clearly distinguishable, understandable, and in multiple languages (he lives in a multi-language household). So, yes. Parrots can talk. Can they converse? Sometimes loosely, usually not at all. But they can very much talk. If you mean that parrots do not understand the words and construction they are speaking, sure. But at that point you're splitting hairs. My parrot says "do you want it?" when he wants a treat. He says "good night" when he wants to go to bed. He says "c'mon!" when he wants me to come to him. He absolutely talks. Weird hill to die on.

Izmaki 4y ago
My parrot will on every occasion that it stumbles, let out a surprised "Oh!" followed by a "Good boy!" when he gets back up again. I didn't sit around all day teaching him to say "Oh!" whenever I pushed him off the branch and praise him when he got back up again. I also don't tell myself I'm a "Good boy!" whenever I get back up from a stumble (which thankfully doesn't happen often at home to begin with). I'm sure my parrot doesn't know what "Oh!" or "Good boy" means, that is what the words mean in a human context. I'm also sure that he doesn't know what snapping finger noise followed by a stern "Ah-ah!" means, but he has used that on one occasion when he was mad at me and wanted to tell me to back off if I treasured the skin on my hands. (A learned behaviour from his first and previous owner). ...but at the end of the day, speech is in many ways "just" a series of correct sounds at correct times in correct situations, right? Does my parrot have a conversation with me? Well yes, sometimes, but not with words. Does my parrot mimic human words and phrases? Also yes, and sometimes in the most perfect situations possible.
- yazzku 4y ago
  From your description, it does sound like your Parrot has some understanding of meaning, much like dogs do. Not that they understand the grammar or can make out the individual words, but it seems like it can correlate <real world event> with <sounds>. <get back up> -> "Good boy"; <caught you right where I wanted you> -> "<snap> + Ah-ha!". Similarly, a dog may not understand that "sit" is an English word, but it can clearly understand "sit" -> <get that ass on the floor> (or whatever language you used to train them, they couldn't care less). That association is meaning, even if they are not fully acquainted with the works of Shakespeare.