Animals Have No Language, and Humans Are Animals Too

Prat, Yosef

doi:10.1177/1745691619858402

Cited by 13 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…One can find differences and draw parallels among the various human and nonhuman systems; doing so helps to delineate their various characteristics. The problem with doing so is that humans – despite all of our detailed work in the field for decades – are still fairly incompetent in their ability to perform complete analyses of any systems other than their own, so that additional complexities in nonhumans’ systems – and thus possible additional differences and parallels with the human system – currently remain undiscovered, particularly with respect to reference (see Prat, 2019 ). For example, when birdsongs that are recorded at normal speed are played back at much slower speeds, many small structural differences can be observed among supposedly identical elements, emitted from different songsters or even from the same individual.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions

Pepperberg

2021

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Deciphering nonhuman communication – particularly nonhuman vocal communication – has been a longstanding human quest. We are, for example, fascinated by the songs of birds and whales, the grunts of apes, the barks of dogs, and the croaks of frogs; we wonder about their potential meaning and their relationship to human language. Do these utterances express little more than emotional states, or do they convey actual bits and bytes of concrete information? Humans’ numerous attempts to decipher nonhuman systems have, however, progressed slowly. We still wonder why only a small number of species are capable of vocal learning, a trait that, because it allows for innovation and adaptation, would seem to be a prerequisite for most language-like abilities. Humans have also attempted to teach nonhumans elements of our system, using both vocal and nonvocal systems. The rationale for such training is that the extent of success in instilling symbolic reference provides some evidence for, at the very least, the cognitive underpinnings of parallels between human and nonhuman communication systems. However, separating acquisition of reference from simple object-label association is not a simple matter, as reference begins with such associations, and the point at which true reference emerges is not always obvious. I begin by discussing these points and questions, predominantly from the viewpoint of someone studying avian abilities. I end by examining the question posed by Premack: do nonhumans that have achieved some level of symbolic reference then process information differently from those that have not? I suggest the answer is likely “yes,” giving examples from my research on Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus).

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions

Pepperberg

2021

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is commonly assumed that there is no equivalent to human language in other animal species. Identifying meaning in non-human animal communication is probably the most difficult task in linguistics because of our limited ability to infer the real goals and intentions of non-human animals (Prat, 2019). One problem with effective communication is that tests are conducted in the expectation that animals will perform in a similar way to humans (Lockwood, 1987).…”

Section: Verbal Argumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One problem with effective communication is that tests are conducted in the expectation that animals will perform in a similar way to humans (Lockwood, 1987). In animal tests dealing with auditory communication, Prat (2019) considered it bothersome that humans in tests are assumed to be unique and superior, while studies of nonhuman animals' vocal communication provided results like those expected if similar methods were to be applied to human vocal behaviour. Human communication centres on vocal and visual means.…”

Section: Verbal Argumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare of farmed insects

Huis

2021

JIFF

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The recent interest in using insects as food and feed is based on their capacity to be a sustainable alternative to other protein sources. When farmed as mini livestock, the question is raised as to whether they are ‘sentient beings’ (self-conscious)? In researching this topic, the problem is that humans often expect animals to have the same subjective experience as we do (anthropomorphic) and consider themselves as the centre of the universe (anthropocentric). We discuss insects’ sentience by looking at their brain, behaviour, and communicative abilities. The miniature brains of insects seem to be arranged in a very efficient functional way due to their very long evolutionary history. As for their behaviour, insects are capable of social and associative learning. Even dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in reward and pleasure, plays a role. Human communication is mainly verbal, while for insects other means of information exchange are more important, such as tactile, chemical, visual, and vibrational. The distinction needs to be made between nociception and pain, the latter being an emotional experience. It is difficult to prove that insects can experience pain, although they have a large repertoire of withdrawal and defensive behavioural responses. The philosophical attitudes deal with how we view insects and their relations to humans. This also determines the ethical attitude and how we should treat them. Are they just there for our benefit or do we consider them as co-animals? Insects as food requires that many insects must be killed. However, the number killed may not be different when one chooses a plant-based diet. It is concluded that insects should be farmed and killed using the precautionary principle, which assumes that they can experience pain. To discuss the consequences for the industry sector that produces insects for food and feed, we used Brambell’s five freedoms as a framework.

show abstract

“…These calls can be combined into a pyow-hack sequence, which elicit a group movement in receivers in the absence of predators: the meaning of this combination does not seem to be derived from the meaning of its constituents Moreover, playback experiments showed that listeners responded similarly to sequences in which the proportion of pyows and hacks varied, further suggesting that these combinations are non-compositional (but see Schlenker et al, 2016a for another interpretation of the data, discussed further in III.6). (Prat, 2019). This result is puzzling, and strongly suggests that, in order to properly compare animal and human communication and find linguistic-like capacities in animals, we should unify the methods.…”

Section: (B) Qualifying Syntactic Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the great differences between the methodologies that are possible in the two domains often make any direct comparison of results extremely challenging. In one striking example, Prat (2019) argues that, while ethological methodologies have thus far had little success in finding 'language' in non-human animals, applying the same methodologies to humans also fails to find any sign of 'language' in human communicative behaviour. Finally, while there have been a few attempts at direct communication or collaborative efforts between biological and linguistic fields, these articles are sometimes highly technical (and thus of limited accessibility to the target audience), and sometimes dismissively critical, thus discouraging further constructive exchanges between communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal Linguistics: A Primer

Berthet¹,

Coye²,

Dezecache³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The evolution of language is investigated by various research communities (including biologists and linguists) which engage in comparative works to highlight similar linguistic capacities across species. So far though, no consensus exists on linguistic capacities of nonhuman species. Rather, vivid debates have emerged, mostly fuelled by misuses of linguistic terminology, irrelevance of analysis methods and inappropriate behavioural data collection. The field of ‘animal linguistics’ has recently emerged to overcome these difficulties, notably by increasing exchanges and collaborations across disciplines, in an attempt to reach unique methods and terminology.This primer on ‘animal linguistics’ is a tutorial review on the study of animal communication using both linguistic and biological methods, aimed at both the linguistic and biology communities. Specifically, it aims at accompanying researchers from either of these fields to collect data, run analyses and draw conclusions step by step, and in a way that could satisfy the other research community. To this end, it first exposes the linguistic theoretical concepts of semantics, pragmatics and syntax, and proposes the minimal criteria that are to be fulfilled to claim that a given species displays one – or several – linguistic capacities. Second, it reviews relevant methods successfully applied to the study of animal data. Third, it proposes guidelines to detect and overcome major pitfalls commonly observed in the collection of animal behaviour data. As observed in the past history of science, research traditions can be fragile if not sustained by collaborative communities. We believe this article to represent a milestone towards mutual understanding and fruitful collaborations between linguists and biologists.

show abstract

Animals Have No Language, and Humans Are Animals Too

Cited by 13 publications

References 66 publications

Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions

Nonhuman and Nonhuman-Human Communication: Some Issues and Questions

Welfare of farmed insects

Animal Linguistics: A Primer

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About