This is an excellent question and I don't have a real answer. When students ask me about this in class I tend to talk about communication within species and not across species. In fact, it seems to me that for survival it would be much better NOT to have cross species communication. Sort of the logic behind catchers in baseball having signals that only the pitcher can read; or that coaches have on the sidelines near 1st and 3rd base. Teams don't want other teams to "steal" their signals; they want to keep a within group communication.
So for me the real question is whether or not species can communicate amongst themselves very effectively. To this extent I allude to birdsong with my students, rather than focus on whether or not Washoe's grasp of approximately an 18-month old human's use of sign language, after a lifetime of training, is as important. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:21:02 -0800 >From: "David E. Hall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re:[tips] Alex, Washoe, and "Next of Kin" by Fouts >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > >Not being well versed in this debate, can someone clarify for me why >the discussion is always about animal acquisition of human language >and human constructs? The whole discussion strikes me as terribly >anthropocentric and subsequently blind to the possibility of language >as symbolic, semantic, structured, and generative/productive >manifesting in forms qualitatively distinct from human forms. >Creating environments for animals to learn and express language on >human terms may not tap that animals innate capacity. > >I'm also curious to know what some of the recent evidence is from the >study of language among marine mammals such as dolphins and whales. >Can anyone share? > >Thanks for any insight, >Dave > > > >------------------- >David E. Hall, M.S. >Instructor/ Ph.D. Candidate >Systems Science: Psychology >Portland State University >(C) 503-799-5922 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >--- ---
