Talking animal

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A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language. [1] 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, [2] [3] although whether this should be considered a language has been disputed. [4]

Contents

Possibility of animal language

The horse Clever Hans performing CleverHans.jpg
The horse Clever Hans performing

The term refers to animals who can imitate (though not necessarily understand) human speech. Parrots, for example, repeat phrases of human speech through exposure. [5] There were parrots that learnt to use words in proper context and had meaningful dialogues with humans. Alex, a grey parrot, understood questions about color, shape, size, number etc. of objects and would provide a one-word answer to them. [6] He is also documented to have asked an existential question. [7] Another grey parrot, N'kisi, could use 950 words in proper context, was able to form sentences and even understood the concept of grammatical tense. [8]

Researchers have attempted to teach great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans) spoken language with poor results as they can only be taught how to say one or a few basic or limited words or phrases or less, and sign language with significantly better results as they can be very creative with various signs like those of deaf people. In this regard, there are now numerous studies and an extensive bibliography. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

Reported cases by species

Birds

Dogs

An owner hears a dog making a sound that resembles a phrase says the phrase back to the dog, who then repeats the sound and is rewarded with a treat. Eventually the dog learns a modified version of the original sound. Dogs have limited vocal imitation skills, so these sounds usually need to be shaped by selective attention and social reward. [19]

Cats

Great apes

Great apes mimicking human speech is rare although some of them have attempted to do so by often watching and mimicking the gestures, and voices from their human trainers. Apparently, human voice control in non-human great apes could derive from an evolutionary ancestor with similar voice control capacities. These include chimpanzees and orangutans.

Elephants

Cetaceans

Some of the species of toothed whales like dolphins and porpoises such as beluga whales and orca can imitate the patterns of human speech. [28]

Others

In fiction

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washoe (chimpanzee)</span> Chimpanzee research subject

Washoe was a female common chimpanzee who was the first non-human to learn to communicate using American Sign Language (ASL) as part of an animal research experiment on animal language acquisition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal language</span> Complex animal communication

Animal languages are forms of non-human animal communication that show similarities to human language. Animals communicate through a variety of signs, such as sounds or movements. Signing among animals may be considered a form of language if the inventory of signs is large enough. The signs are relatively arbitrary, and the animals seem to produce them with a degree of volition. In experimental tests, animal communication may also be evidenced through the use of lexigrams by chimpanzees and bonobos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanzi</span> Bonobo research subject

Kanzi, also known by the lexigram , is a male bonobo who has been the subject of several studies on great ape language. According to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a primatologist who has studied the bonobo throughout his life, Kanzi has exhibited advanced linguistic aptitude.

Rico was a border collie dog who made the news after being studied by animal psychologists Juliane Kaminski and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig after his owners reported that he understood more than 200 simple words. Kaminski et al. wrote in Science that these claims were justified: Rico retrieved an average of 37 out of 40 items correctly. Rico could also remember items' names for four weeks after his last exposure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex (parrot)</span> Parrot used for experiments

Alex was a grey parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. When Alex was about one year old, Pepperberg bought him at a pet shop. In her book "Alex & Me", Pepperberg describes her unique relationship with Alex and how Alex helped her understand animal minds. Alex was an acronym for avian language experiment, or avian learning experiment. He was compared to Albert Einstein and at two years old was correctly answering questions made for six-year-olds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great ape language</span> Efforts to teach non-human primates to communicate with humans

Research into great ape language has involved teaching chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans to communicate with humans and each other using sign language, physical tokens, lexigrams, and imitative human speech. Some primatologists argue that the use of these communication methods indicate primate "language" ability, though this depends on one's definition of language.

The Mind of an Ape is a 1983 book by David Premack and his wife Ann James Premack. The authors argue that it is possible to teach language to (non-human) great apes. They write: "We now know that someone who comprehends speech must know language, even if he or she cannot produce it."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human–animal communication</span> Verbal and non-verbal interspecies communication

Human–animal communication is the communication observed between humans and other animals, ranging from non-verbal cues and vocalizations to the use of language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speech</span> Human vocal communication using spoken language

Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words, and using those words in their semantic character as words in the lexicon of a language according to the syntactic constraints that govern lexical words' function in a sentence. In speaking, speakers perform many different intentional speech acts, e.g., informing, declaring, asking, persuading, directing, and can use enunciation, intonation, degrees of loudness, tempo, and other non-representational or paralinguistic aspects of vocalization to convey meaning. In their speech, speakers also unintentionally communicate many aspects of their social position such as sex, age, place of origin, physical states, psychological states, physico-psychological states, education or experience, and the like.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Savage-Rumbaugh</span> Psychologist and primatologist

Emily Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is a psychologist and primatologist most known for her work with two bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, investigating their linguistic and cognitive abilities using lexigrams and computer-based keyboards. Originally based at Georgia State University's Language Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, she worked at the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary in Des Moines, Iowa from 2006 until her departure in November 2013. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Bonobo Hope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emotion in animals</span> Research into similarities between non-human and human emotions

Emotion is defined as any mental experience with high intensity and high hedonic content. The existence and nature of emotions in non-human animals are believed to be correlated with those of humans and to have evolved from the same mechanisms. Charles Darwin was one of the first scientists to write about the subject, and his observational approach has since developed into a more robust, hypothesis-driven, scientific approach. Cognitive bias tests and learned helplessness models have shown feelings of optimism and pessimism in a wide range of species, including rats, dogs, cats, rhesus macaques, sheep, chicks, starlings, pigs, and honeybees. Jaak Panksepp played a large role in the study of animal emotion, basing his research on the neurological aspect. Mentioning seven core emotional feelings reflected through a variety of neuro-dynamic limbic emotional action systems, including seeking, fear, rage, lust, care, panic and play. Through brain stimulation and pharmacological challenges, such emotional responses can be effectively monitored.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talking bird</span> Bird that can mimic human speech

Talking birds are birds that can mimic the speech of humans. There is debate within the scientific community over whether some talking parrots also have some cognitive understanding of the language. Birds have varying degrees of talking ability: some, like the corvids, are able to mimic only a few words and phrases, while some budgerigars have been observed to have a vocabulary of almost 2,000 words. The hill myna, a common pet, is well known for its talking ability and its relative, the European starling, is also adept at mimicry. Wild cockatoos in Australia have been reported to have learned human speech by cultural transmission from ex-captive birds that have integrated into the flock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batyr</span> Asian elephant (1970–1993)

Batyr was an Asian elephant claimed to be able to use a large amount of meaningful human speech. Living in a zoo in Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union, Batyr was reported as having a vocabulary of more than 20 phrases. A recording of Batyr saying "Batyr is good", his name and using words such as drink and give was played on Kazakh state radio and on the Soviet Central Television programme Vremya in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primate cognition</span> Study of non-human primate intellect

Primate cognition is the study of the intellectual and behavioral skills of non-human primates, particularly in the fields of psychology, behavioral biology, primatology, and anthropology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laughter in animals</span> Overview of humor in animals

Laughter in animals other than humans describes animal behavior which resembles human laughter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panbanisha</span> Bonobo research subject

Panbanisha, also known by the lexigram , was a female bonobo that featured in studies on great ape language by Professor Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. Her name is Swahili for "to cleave together for the purpose of contrast."

<i>Hero: 108</i> American TV series or program

Hero: 108 is an animated television series created by Yang-Ming Tarng for Cartoon Network. It was broadcast on Cartoon Network and the Kabillion On Demand service in the United States and aired on the Cartoon Network international channels elsewhere. The series is co-produced by MoonScoop Entertainment, Gamania, Hong Ying Animation and Telegael Teoranta for Turner Entertainment Networks International Limited. It premiered on March 1, 2010.

Theory of mind in animals is an extension to non-human animals of the philosophical and psychological concept of theory of mind (ToM), sometimes known as mentalisation or mind-reading. It involves an inquiry into whether non-human animals have the ability to attribute mental states to themselves and others, including recognition that others have mental states that are different from their own. To investigate this issue experimentally, researchers place non-human animals in situations where their resulting behavior can be interpreted as supporting ToM or not.

Panpanzee the chimpanzee, was born at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. She lived the rest of her life at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa. Her half-brother is Kanzi, a famous bonobo. Kanzi learned 348 lexigram symbols and over 3,000 words from the English language over her lifespan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo (parrot)</span> African grey parrot featured on YouTube

Apollo is an African grey parrot and the subject of the popular YouTube channel "Apollo and Frens" run by Victoria (Tori) Lacey and Dalton Mason. Apollo has been described as having the intelligence of a "human toddler" and can answer numerous complex questions in English.The owners of the bird sold their Facebook page after reaching 500k. A perfect example of using a bird for profit.

References

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  8. 1 2 Kirby, Alex (26 January 2004). "Parrot's oratory stunts scientists". BBC News.
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  12. R.A. Gardner; B.T. Gardner (1969). Teaching Sign Language to a Chimpanzee. Vol. 165. pp. 664–72. Bibcode:1969Sci...165..664G. doi:10.1126/science.165.3894.664. PMID   5793972.{{cite book}}: |magazine= ignored (help)
  13. R.A. Gardner; B.T. Gardner; T.E. Van Cantfort (1989). Teaching Sign Language to Chimpanzees. Albany: SUNY Press.
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  16. E.S. Savage-Rumbaugh; K. McDonald; R.A. Sevcik; W.D. Hopkins; E. Rupert (1986). Spontaneous symbol acquisition and communicative use by pygmy chimpanzees (Pan paniscus). Vol. 115. General. pp. 211–35. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.115.3.211. PMID   2428917.{{cite book}}: |magazine= ignored (help)
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  23. https://www.homevideolicensing.com/video/128556
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  26. "Conversing cows and eloquent elephants". fortunecity.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
  27. "Kosik, Talking Elephant, Attracts Researchers And Tourists In South Korea". Huffington Post. October 11, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2012.
  28. "The Story of One Whale Who Tried to Bridge the Linguistic Divide Between Animals and Humans". Smithsonian Magazine. June 2014.
  29. "Study: Male beluga whale mimics human speech". 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
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  33. Is This Goat Talking? | Yahoo News
    In August, Lyndsey Hyde of Tennessee posted a video to Vine featuring a goat that sounds like it is saying "What? What? What?" The 6-second clip went viral with more than 7 million views on the video-sharing app.