Animal 's Capacity For Human Language Essay

Non-human primates’ communication based on a limited range of sounds and gestures. Human communication is far more focused on the use of oral sounds. The human voice and non-human primate vocalizations are characterized by important differences. Our speech is radically different from other sounds used by non-human primates to communicate. Vocal perception abilities through conspecific vocalizations are important in social interactions. Only human possess speech perception to communicate in a highly efficient manner (Belin, 2006). Human and non-human primates’ vocalization differs in the morphology of the vocal apparatus and acoustic structure (Fitch 2000, 2003). Primates such as monkeys possess vocal folds in the vocal tract which are absent in humans (Schon Ybarra 1995). The larynx in the vocal tract of human is much lower compared to the non-human primates. The lowered larynx allows the increase of flexibility of the tongue and thus yielding a large range of frequencies. In contrast, higher larynx leads to inflexibility of the tongue thus limiting the non-human primates’ ability to yield acoustically distinct sounds through their vocal tract (Belin, 2006). In addition, non-human primates do not use their tongue to modify the shape of the vocal tract for the production of sound. The distinct production of human speech involves

Animal Intelligence Intelligence is defined as the ability to acquire and apply knowledge. Psychologists have exploited this concept in many ways to try and determine whether non-human animals are capable of intelligence. From social learning it is logical to assume that, since non-human animals are able to both acquire and use new behaviours, they must be intelligent in some way. Heyes stated that there are 6 types of behaviour which suggest intelligence. These are imitation, self-recognition, social relationship formation, role-taking, deception and perspective taking.

Many Americans view animals as their pets and have experinced some of the situations used, such as an animal getting anxious after looking at the owners tensed face, or the issue of too many people treating their animals and humans, but not disciplining them as kids. The article may not be universal from it pertaining to the nonverbal communication between a dog and their pet owner, however most cultures don't view animal as pets. In addition, the other included an interesting point that one of the smartest and most closely linked to us animal, the chimp, could not communicate nonverbally like the dog, so not all animals can be put in place of the dogs reactions in each example. Lastly, the majority of the paper is well written, but on page ten, the last word to a paragraph was found in the next paragraph, which could make the article come off as rushed and not thoroughly

Can you imagine having a conversation with an animal? Well, some animals are capable of learning and using language. Psychologists are working with many types of animals to learn symbols and language.

This research paper will discuss the ways in which non-human primates use different sound and gestures to convey different feeling and emotions toward one another like humans. A primate is “a mammal of an order that includes the Lemurs, Bushbabies, Tarsiers, Marmosets, Monkeys, Apes, and Humans” (Oxford). What makes us human are our language, our culture, and our behavior. We as humans have feelings of joy, sadness, fear, anger, trust, and so much more, but have we ever stopped to wonder how or if our nonhuman primate relatives have and use these emotions just like us. These next couple paragraphs will explain and discuss what emotions are felt and how emotions are conveyed in the nonhuman primate culture.

The results showed that burrowing owls did increase alert behaviors following a prairie dog alarm call. The alarm call produced a faster reaction than the biological control sound of cows mooing and the reaction was sustained for a longer time period.

Behavioural development in animals undergoing domestication is characterized by changes in the quantitative rather than qualitative nature of responses (Price, 1999). When being ridden McGreevy et al., (2009) found that horses may be that at their most dangerous (e.g., when bolting and bucking), ridden horses have simply reverted to responses within the predator model. This is interesting because it suggests that no matter how ethologically parallel in-hand work may be, a ridden horse can later revert to these counter–predator responses, seemingly confirming that ridden work may not be emphatically within, the horse’s ethogram. It could also suggest that whatever performance enhancing products are used, will the horse just revert back to these behaviours regardless. This shows that when the dialogue between horses and humans is consistent there is a positive correlation with relaxation and rapport. Inter-specific communication may help the horses overcome their fear and therefore reduce the tendency to use counter-predator responses. When the horse shows something of its own intention, it is often seen from a human perspective to be undermining the human-horse interaction. What horse people erroneously consider examples of reasoning in their horses, turn out to be excellent examples of trial-and-error

Peter Singer continually reminds us that animals are no different than humans. He begins his argument by comparing animal equality to equality with humans. Singer takes us to when women where fighting for rights, and talks about them wanting their right to vote. Like men, women have the same ability to make decisions. He follows that statement by saying that since men and women are similar enough to have equal rights, why should animals have equal rights if they are so different?

Most primates communicate through a lot of ways, one of them being vocalization. Vocalization in primates have a range of functions, but some vary in contexts. For example, vocalization between one primate and another primate can differ greatly from communication between one group and another group. Of all primates, the only species to have developed speech are humans. Another form of communication is the use of symbols and hand gestures. Although apes use symbols, this provides insight on their cognitive abilities. In particular, there have been various recent studies on nonhuman primates and how they show a high level of complexity in linguistics, which is similar to humans. We study primate communication and their behavior to get a better

There are many reasons why a dog barks. Since they could not communicate to us through

After reading Brian Hare’s The Genius of Dogs, a misconception I previously had was that humans domesticated dogs. I believed that thousands of years ago wolves were brought into the houses of humans and taken on hunting trips and over time they became less aggressive. In fact dogs domesticated themselves. Hare discusses many topics that went against my previous thoughts including dogs understanding of connections, the aspect of fetch, and the play bow, but I have chosen to focus on how dogs domesticated themselves by scavenging through human trash. Brian Hare’s studies on dog cognition and the process of domestication began his sophomore year of college when it was proposed to him that the difference separating humans from other animals was our ability to understand communicative intentions.

One form of nonhuman primate communication that occurs in the wild is through noises (Zuberbuhler 6). Most primates have species specific sounds for certain situations (Zuberbuhler 6). For example, vervet monkeys have different alarm calls for different types of predators (Zuberbuhler 10). The listeners of these calls respond to each call differently, protecting themselves from specific predators (Zuberbuhler 10). This means that they are not just reacting to another monkey being scared, but they know what scared it based on the call the monkey makes. Specific calls therefore can be said to symbolize specific meanings (Zuberbuhler 10). However, it is not known whether or not this is intentional or if the monkeys are aware of this. While this would not necessarily be considered a language, it is one of their natural forms of communication. The human listeners and nonhuman listeners both interpret arbitrary noises to mean something specific (Zuberbuhler 11). However, a difference between human language and these primate calls is that humans learn their language socially (Zuberbuhler 11). There is no evidence to say that nonhuman primate calls or sounds are learned socially instead of instinctual (Zuberbuhler 11). In fact, there is some evidence to support the opposite. “Monkeys reared in social isolation produce basically all their species-typical call types from soon after birth”(Arbib 1054). This means that these species specific calls are not taught, but they know them

Dogs have given humans their companionship and love for over 10,000 years. Dogs bark to protect territory and sometimes of loneliness or fright. All dogs, whether in the wild or domestic, share the same ancestor, the small South Asian wolf. From chihuahuas to Great Danes, every breed is the same species, Canis familiaris (animals.nationalgeographic.com).

The claim, humans are the only animal that can acquire language has been the subject of much debate as scientists have investigated language use by non-human species. Researchers have taught apes, monkeys, parrots and wild children with various systems of human-like communication. Thus, one might ask, what is human language? According to Ulla Hedeager, A universally accepted definition of language or the criteria for its use does not exist. This is one of the reasons for the disagreement among scientists about whether non-human species can use a language. In nature, researchers find numerous types of communication systems, several of which appear to be unique to their possessors, and one of them is the language of the human species. Basically, the purpose of communication is the preservation, growth, and development of the species (Smith and Miller 1968:265). The ability to exchange information is shared by all communication systems, and a number of non-human systems share some features of human language. The fundamental difference between human and non-human communication is that animals are believed to react instinctively, in a stereotyped and predictable way. Generally, human behavior is under the voluntary control,

If you have a pet like dog, you will think it knows us. They know our expressions and they always can give us a comfort when we are in terrible situation. I think a lot of people often think about do animals know humans’ language? I want to discuss about Do animals have ability to learn language and what is the difference between human language and animal language.