A. Communication and Non-Human Animal "Language"

• Communication involves production and reception of signals, typically meaningful only to conspecifics (Bradbury & Vehrencamp).  This can be accomplished by pheromones, visual displays, movements, vocalizations... (the list goes on).
• Question: When did people start talking in a way we could describe as showing language?  This is tough to answer, since " language does not fossilize."  One way to address this question is to look at the language capabilities of current species.
• Many communications are reflexively tied to specific conditions of the environment (e.g., bee dance indicates location of flowers..).
• Question: Do vervet monkeys intend that their vocalized alarm calls indicate to other monkeys that there is a "predator above," "predator below," or that they should "escape across trees?"  Are they trying to influence the behavior of others?
• Is it relevant that infant vervets make these calls, but imperfectly?  They improve with practice.
• Is it relevant that vervets do NOT make the calls unless there are other monkeys around?
• Does the fact that these communications are vocalizations and that the monkeys are primates make them "closer" to human language?
• Dennett (1983) takes the observations as evidence that the vervets intend to influence other monkeys.  That makes the calls more "language like."
• Others, however, say that to decide on the monkey's intentions, they need to see evidence that the monkeys will learn a new way to communicate danger (e.g., shaking a branch, throwing an object).  One that is not innate.

• That dolphins learn readily is easily seen in the various aquatic shows given around the world.  By giving hand signals, the trainer can "ask"  to the dolphin to perform a large number of tricks.  Is this a kind of language?
• Herman and co-workers in Hawaii consider their instructions to be a language.  Their commands were given in three to five word "sentences."  Sentences included a direct object (e.g. "right hand basket"), an action (e.g., "bring" (or, as Barker says, "fetch"), and an agent (e.g., "red ball").  This sentence could then be "read" by humans as saying "Bring the red ball to the right hand basket").  Herman and coworkers say that the dolphins were sensitive to the word order (i.e., grammar) of their instructions.  They consider this to be an elementary language.
• Schusterman and coworkers in Santa Cruz, CA, however, say the dolphins would do as well even if they only learned a sequential discrimination problem -- not as flexible a skill as implied by the word "language."  They notice that all Herman's instructions are in two forms:
• If OBJECT and two modifiers: Perform ACTION on OBJECT.
• if two OBJECTS and ACTION is "fetch," then bring second object to first object.
• Barker agrees with Schusterman -- since the behavior is adequately described by the simpler account of discrimination training, there is no basis for calling this "language."  Dolphins perform their trained behavior well but do not add their own "message" to their reactions.

• Barker recounts some of the Alex stories.  Alex counts, adds (two numbers of 6 or less), identifies shapes and colors (and material, which Barker does not mention).  He shows considerable skill at both perceptual and abstract concepts. (For example, the performance I described in class where he says that two identical items have "nothing" different and two totally dissimilar items have "nothing" equal.)   As Barker notes, the training was very social, involving paying attention to Alex only when he correctly answered questions.

• Chimps don't talk.  The Kelloggs (Luella and Winthrop) and their chimp Gua (raised with son Donald).  The Hayes and their chimp Vicki.  Both attempts to teach chimps to talk failed.  There were utterances but not words.
• Chimps and Apes make signs by hand signals.  The Gardeners (Allen and Beatrice) and their chimp Washoe. Ann Patterson and her lowland ape Koko.  Terrace and his chimp Nim (Chimpsky).  All three groups trained American Sign Language.  The Gardeners and Patterson point to Washoe's and Koko's successes; Terrace points to Nim's failures.  Terrace complains that, unlike human language, these animals require intensive training to obtain even minimal success, learn at a very slow pace, use the signs very little unless prompted by the humans, typically emit long strings of the trained signs (often in an order previously trained; rarely showing creative use of the signs).  In short, these animals doe not seem to use their signs in a generative manner (i.e., creating new descriptions proactively) or are merely repeating trained sequences.
• Chimps arrange strings of physical symbols in a manner that complies with the rules of a special language.  David Premack and coworkers taught chimps (e.g., Sara) to arrange specially shaped plastic tokens into "sentences."  Duane Rumbaugh and coworkers (including his wife, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh) taught chimps (e.g. Lana) to push sequences of buttons (with symbols they called "lexigrams") on a chimp-computer, creating "sentences."  Many of these sentences described or requested food or games.
• Chimps can be trained to interact using lexigrams (mixed with some signs).  The Rumbaughs trained Sherman and Austin to use the lexigrams to name objects and to identify objects to "bring back" from an adjoining room.  They also learned to make statements about actions they were about to carry out and to use the lexigrams to solve problems cooperatively (and then share the food reward).   There are also "stories" from observations of colonies of previously-language-trained chimps where occasional productive, generative use of signs is claimed.  In all, however, the literature on "language-like behavior" in common chimps shows a use of communication that appears to be very different from what is seen with humans.

• In the 1920's a "new" kind of chimp was identified -- called a pygmy chimp since it was somewhat smaller than a common chimp.  The social behavior is also very different from common chimps -- direct gaze for one thing, "following a point" as another.  The species, sadly, is very close to extinction, and its small home area in Africa is shrinking very quickly.
• The Rumbaughs were working with one female (Matata) who had a young son, Kanzi.  When Kanzi was weaned, his mother was returned to her home to have another baby while Kanzi remained behind at the Rumbaugh's lab.   Matata had been learning the lexigram system of communication, using a portable keyboard.  Kanzi had looked on -- playing alongside during her training.
• With Matata gone, the lab crew spent their time "babysitting" Kanzi -- only to notice that Kanzi would seek out the lexigram keyboard and USE IT to identify what he wanted to do!  The Rumbaughs realized that he had learned much about the lexigram system just by watching -- very like a human infant learns language.
• Kanzi's training program began -- but very different than prior kinds of training.  He was not given "food" for being correct.  He was given "what he asked for!"  They developed a series of play/food areas in a 55-acre wood.  Each morning they would "plan the day" (using lexigrams, pictures, and the staff speaking English) and then they would visit the places and do the things Kanzi indicated.  Kanzi became very good at lexigrams and at understanding English (his receptive language skills seemed better than a 2 year old child during specific tests).  Does he "talk"?  Not well, but he DOES vocalize to some extent and in a manner that is much more human than do common chimps.  Kanzi is now a young adult and is getting a bit crotchity and hard to work with.  There are younger bonobo chimps undergoing language training.  We are all hopeful that they will also demonstrate fairly human-like (or perhaps even better -- like truly friendly) communication.
• So far, Alex and Kanzi are the best non-human "language-like" examples.

• Nativist vs Environmentalist perspectives on language acquisition. Mandi Singer's Notes.
• Pragmatics: Why do we say what we say?  Skinner offers three answers (Verbal Behavior, 1957): To share information (Tacts, which are socially reinforced), to make requests and give commands (Mands, which are reinforced by receiving particular outcomes with social help), and "modifier words" (Autoclitics, which are included in language to improve the other two functions.  Skinner puts most "grammar" here).
• Learning what words mean -- Associative learning principles appear to be involved here for both the "dictionary meaning" and for the "emotional meaning."
• Barker introduces an interesting word coined by a biologist named Dawkins: meme -- an element of culture tha may be passed on by non-genetic means.   Memes are passed from "elders" to "young community leaders."   Memes are passed from "libraries" to young readers.  Spoken and written language are key elements (though not the only elements) that allow cultures to be passed from one generation to the next.
• Culture: Notice that Barker doesn't offer here a firm definition of culture.  My Am. Her. Dictionary offers several.  Here is the first meaning (and one that fits our use here: "1.a. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. b. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population: Edwardian culture; Japanese culture; the culture of poverty. c. These patterns, traits, and products considered with respect to a particular category, such as a field, subject, or mode of expression: religious culture in the Middle Ages; musical culture; oral culture."  In this sense of culture, note that Barker cites an article and a website that proposes that common chimps have culture -- i.e., show cultural differences from one subgroup to another.  The website is interesting and reports regional differences between chimp tool use and social practices.  (click to go to the link: http://chimp.st-and.ac.uk/cultures/variation.htm

• I very much like Barker's emphasis that reading is a very different kind of a skill than understanding spoken language.  And that writing is a very different kind of a skill than speaking.  Learning to read and (especially) learning to write are skills that are learned only after much effort by both teachers and learners.  These are activities where the prinicples of Pavlovian and operant learning provide key insights.  That high school illiteracy in our nation is estimated by one source as 25% shows that we are not doing a good job in meeting one of our national goals: basic public education.
• Many reading skills start on the laps of parents, where the intensely social interchange revolves around turning pages in children's books.  The pace and the ability to "point to specific stimuli" allows a child to learn to identify key elements (e.g. letters, words, pictures).  The attention span is adjusted to the child.  The child is an active participant setting the pace.  TV does not allow this kind of close, parent-child language learning.  Nor do current computers.  Beware.  Read to your kids.
• Pre-reading skills.  Letter recognition.  Even with "simple printing fonts," there are over 52 sight-sound associations to form.  (Well over, if you take "common letter sequences" as units).  Another kind of pre-reading skill involves identifying differences between spoken phonemes (e.g., p vs b vs d vs...).

• Not just language, but other "social/intellectual/cultural" activities distinguish humans from non-humans -- e.g., composed music, dance, art; planned communities and architecture; etc...
• Yet, language learning (and especially reading/writing) does, determine the success of these other activities.  Children who do not learn language skills -- especially reading and writing -- lag increasingly behind.  Literacy provides a key tool to intellectual development.
• And -- active literacy is better than merely being literate.  Some suggestive examples.
• An excellent fifth grade reader encounters 6 Million words in a year "outside of school" reading, while an average fifth grade student encounters only 650,000 (just over a tenth as much).
• Vocabulary size depends on how much you read.  The impact of this is seen only if you multiply things out.  Barker notes that a 90th percentile student in fifth grade encounters 200 times more words than a 10th percentile student.  Clearly the 90th percentile student knows more words and the gap will widen.
• An average high school student knows 45,000 words, while an average college graduate knows nearly 90,000 words.
• And -- The best single predictor of IQ (which test, Lewis?) is the amount of prior print exposure an individual has (notice it does not seem to matter whether this is reading "trash novels" or reading high falutin' stuff).
• Fact: Almost always watching TV REDUCES the time available for print exposure.
• Illiteracy hurts. And is common in the USA (it is not common in Cuba, for example).  Barker states some percentages to make his (good) point (I guess Adams, 1990 is his source).
• 75% of unemployed individuals are illiterate.
• though of those employed, 15% also are..
• and of professional and managerial workers, 11% are..
• and of semiskilled and unskilled workers, 30% are..
• 33% of mothers needing Aid to Families with Dependent Children are..
• 85% of juveniles appearing in court are..
• 60% of (state) prison inmates are..
• 40% of minority youth are..
• Barker quotes estimates for 18-year olds (in 1988): almost 1 in 5 were school drop-outs; amost 1 in 5 could not read their high school diploma.  That leaves 3 in 5 (just over half!! are we proud?) have received what might be called an actual high school education.
• Why does reading help?  Perhaps because reading and writing involve more of the brain.  We are getting better at "seeing" the brain as it works.  We can "light up" parts of the brain that are "working hard" as a person does various things -- this helps us identify what brain areas are involved in that kind of functioning.  These new techniques have emphasized that (a) both auditory (perceiving) and (b) motor-planning (understanding) parts of the brain are involved in spoken language.  Further, visual (perceiving) areas are involved when a person is reading (seeing-> articulating-> understanding).  Thus, reading INVOLVES MORE OF THE BRAIN.
• Writing also preserves culture.  In fact, cultures that have not developed writing but rely on an "oral tradition" -- tend to disappear.  Barker's example of Tasmanian culture is an example (Box 12.1).   Europeans have a long-term habit of killing those from cultures different from theirs.  In most cases, Europeans eventually eliminate the alternative culture unless it is "written down."
• Barker's comment about European-derived peoples appears valid -- that the European habit of killing people who don't become westernized doesn't fit very well with the word "civilization."   Apparently, knowing how to write and being civilized do not inevitably go together.
• In his last message, Barker emphasizes that LEARNING appears to have a LOT to do with LANGUAGE and thus with CULTURE.