język: Talking animal

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language. Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal language, however, these usually are not considered a language because they lack one or more of the defining characteristics, e.g. grammar, syntax, recursion, and displacement. Researchers have been successful in teaching some animals to make gestures similar to sign language, although whether this should be considered a language has been disputed.

Evidence: 55 • authority: 88

The Speaking Animal. Animals regularly populate philosophical texts as a foil to illustrate what it means to be human. How should we understand this human-animal divide? Not only does it inform us of who we are, it also tells us how we should relate to the larger non-human world. The Speaking Animal interrogates the human-animal divide by looking at our linguistic differences – how the speaking human subject is constructed through its opposition to the dumb animal. Alison Suen begins with an analysis of the role of language in animal ethics, with an eye toward the voice/voiceless opposition that is at work in animal advocacy. After offering a critical analysis of the ethical and political s…

Evidence: 55 • authority: 92

Comparing the productive vocabularies of grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) and young children.. Due to their outstanding ability of vocal imitation, parrots are often kept as pets. Research has shown that they do not just repeat human words. They can use words purposefully to label objects, persons, and animals, and they can even use conversational phrases in appropriate contexts. So far, the structure of pet parrots' vocabularies and the difference between them and human vocabulary acquisition has been studied only in one individual. This study quantitatively analyses parrot and child vocabularies in a larger sample using a vocabulary coding method suitable for assessing the vocabulary st…

Evidence: 55 • authority: 90

Talking apes : the problem of anthropomorphous animals. This thesis examines the human/animal binary in the Western tradition. I analyze in particular the dominant configuration of the human as the speaking, thinking being against the animal as mute and dumb. This configuration informs cultural conceptions of humans and animals in the West, and determines the accordant distribution of ethical worth. To this extent, my project is an ethico-political one: it seeks to disrupt the production of the human/animal binary in order to make space for a posthumanist ethics, which would at its best conceive both intra- and inter-species difference nonhierarchically. My work is situated theoretically in…

Evidence: 55 • authority: 90

Animal Communication and Human Language: An overview. Comparative research has proven to be a fruitful field of study on the ontogenetic and phylogenetic evolution of language, and on the cognitive capacities unique to humans or shared with other animals. The degree of continuity between components of human language and non-human animal communication systems, as well as the existence of a core factor of language, are polemic subjects at present. In this article, we offer an overview of the research on animal communication, comparing the resulting data with the current knowledge on human language development. We try to summarize what is currently known about “language abilities” in multiple…

Evidence: 55 • authority: 72

The origin of language, its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study the origins of language draw inferences from evidence such as the fossil record, archaeological evidence, and contemporary language diversity. They may also study language acquisition as well as comparisons between human language and systems of animal communication (particularly those of other primates). Many argue for the close relation between the origins of language and the origins of modern human behavior, but there is little agreement about the facts and implications of this connection. The shortage of direct, empirical evidence has ca…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 92

Linguistic and Material Ways of Communicating with Cows-The Dung Pusher as a Semiotic Resource.. This study examines how farm workers working with cattle talk to and interact with these non-human animals. This study presents linguistic animal studies and multi-species pragmatics, and it is based on fieldwork, interviews, and video recordings from several types of Finnish dairy farms. This study concentrates especially on one facet of human-cattle interaction: how humans use dung pushers and other sticks when communicating with cows. Thus, it draws on the materiality of language. It is shown how objects, bodies, and spaces, as well as words and linguistic constructions, are meaningful in hum…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 90

Can we talk to the animals? The ethics of using machine learning to decode animal communication. There is currently much scientific and public interest in using machine learning to uncover the meaning of animal signals, which could ultimately lead to two-way communication systems between humans and other animals. This paper examines the research ethics that should govern this line of inquiry, and explores the transformative implications if scientists are successful at creating translations between animal signals and human language. We argue that the scientific and philosophical literature on animal communication systems warrants the attempt to engage in these translation projects, and descr…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 72

Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time. Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement, which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences, and the ability to refer to objects, events, and ideas that are not immediately present in the discourse. The use of human language relies on social convention and is acquired through learning. A 20…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 80

The Speaking Animal: Non-Human Voices in Comics

Evidence: 41 • authority: 80

Talking to Garfield: Human and Animal Communication

Evidence: 41 • authority: 92

Do Great Apes Use Iconic Gestures?. Many researchers in cognitive science and linguistics now recognize that iconicity-perceived resemblance between the form and meaning of a signal (e.g., a word, sign, or gesture)-is an essential property of language, playing vital roles in its processing, learning, and historical development. Iconicity is also fundamental to the human ability to create meaningful new signals without reliance on convention. This iconic turn raises a critical question for the study of language origins: Do great apes use iconic gestures? Apes are well documented to use a flexible and wide-ranging repertoire of gestures, and many appear to be iconic representations of actions…