This week saw the death of Dar, a chimpanzee who was taught American Sign Language.
With the passing of more and more of these animals, it’s time to look at the future of ape language research. What was this work …
Category: animal communication (page 4 of 4)
Birds do it. Whales do it. Even elephants are getting in on the act.
No, we’re not talking about using language, but some of our animal friends are having a pretty good try at making human-like sounds. What’s going on?…
How do mice communicate? By smell or facial expression?
Forget it. Some mice in Costa Rica communicate by singing, and these tiny sopranos have a lot to teach us about our own language gene. What’s the connection between squeaking and …
Apes don’t have language, but they do gesture.
They’ve even been observed using a special form of gesture with their young. Could it be primate baby-talk? What can we learn from our nearest relatives about how our language started?
Linguist …
Can baboons read?
Not exactly, but in a recent experiment, they could tell the difference between real words and fake words. What does this tell us about animals, and what could it do for us?
Linguist Daniel Midgley spells it …
We’ve heard all kinds of wild claims about animals and language.
So what are we to make of a new finding that young goats start to bleat like their peers? Is it crazy? Or could it reveal something about human …
Do bird songs have grammar?
Linguists have supposed that syntactic structure was only found in human language, but now a team of researchers is finding that finches use it in their songs. Does that mean they speak a kind of …
Chaser, a border collie, can recognise the names of over 1,000 objects, and her owner claims she can carry out commands involving verbs and nouns combined.
Is this evidence that animals can use language-like skills?
Linguist Daniel Midgley investigates on …
What’s the difference between animal communication and human language?
How did humans develop the capacity for language?
Linguist Daniel Midgley talks the talk with W. Tecumseh Fitch, professor of cognitive biology at the University of Vienna, and author of …
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