Why don’t monkeys talk to us?
New research tells us that if our primate cousins don’t do language, it’s not because of their vocal tracts. Those appear to be speech-ready. So if the voice is good to go, what’s the holdup?
Daniel is talking apes with Ben and Kylie on this episode of Talk the Talk.
Listen to this episode
You can listen to all the episodes of Talk the Talk by pasting this URL into your podlistener.
http://danielmidgley.com/talkthetalk/talk_classic.xmlPromo
Cutting Room Floor
So this is what Kylie gets up to when we’re not around — tries to imitate Daniel’s accent, to hilarious effect. When Ben arrives, he tells us what improvised goodness he’s been up to.
Then it’s more about what makes language language. And why ants are so stupid.
Patreon supporters
Many thanks to our community of patrons for their support on this episode. That includes Christopher F., David W., Whitney, Matt, Christy, Zoe, and Keda. You’re helping us to keep the talk happening!
We’re Because Language now, and you can become a Patreon supporter!
Depending on your level, you can get bonus episodes, mailouts, shoutouts, come to live episodes, and of course have membership in our Discord community.
Show notes
Swearing meme
Frankly, we do give a damn: The relationship between profanity and honesty
https://www.academia.edu/29725191/Frankly_we_do_give_a_damn_The_relationship_between_profanity_and_honesty
People who swear tend to be more honest
http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/21/14341850/profanity-swearing-honesty-linguistics-language
People who curse a lot have better vocabularies than those who don’t, study finds
http://www.sciencealert.com/people-who-curse-a-lot-have-better-vocabularies-than-those-who-don-t-study-finds
Swearing More Is Actually A Sign Of Having A Better Vocabulary, Study Finds
http://www.iflscience.com/brain/knowing-more-swear-words-linked-wider-vocabulary-study-finds/
People Who Can Swear A Lot Found To Have Larger Vocabularies, So Suck It
http://uproxx.com/life/swearing-correlates-with-bigger-vocabulary-f-ck-yeah-it-does/
Julia Roberts vs. Sally Field in Celebrity Curse Off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0swXMgM284o
Orangutan Found To Mimic Human Speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpoydpDHT8A
Voice control in orangutan gives clues to early human speech
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/du-vci072616.php
Monkeys Could Talk, but They Don’t Have the Brains for It
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/science/monkeys-speech.html
Monkey vocal tracts are speech-ready
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/12/e1600723
Fitch (and von Humboldt) on monkey talk
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/
New Thoughts on the Origins of Human Speech
http://www.archaeology.org/news/5197-170112-baboons-vowels-speech
Baboons use vowel sounds strikingly similar to humans
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/baboons-show-they-ve-got-another-building-block-language-vowellike-sounds
Why a lowered larynx is good for human speech production
http://www.ling.cam.ac.uk/mark/Lowered_larynx_MJJ_York_Jan_2010.pdf
The descended larynx is not uniquely human.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1088793/
From Grunting To Gabbing: Why Humans Can Talk
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129083762
Why monkeys can’t talk—and what they would sound like if they could
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/why-monkeys-can-t-talk-and-what-they-would-sound-if-they-could
Lemurs groom-at-a-distance through vocal networks
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347215003474
‘Baby talk’ in marmoset monkeys
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170116091416.htm
Rogue Scientists Race to Save Climate Data from Trump
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/rogue-scientists-race-save-climate-data-trump/
President Trump ordered the National Park Service to find photos that made his inauguration look huge
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/27/president-trump-ordered-the-national-park-service-to-find-photos-that-made-his-inauguration-look-huge/
Trump admin tells National Park Service to halt tweets
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/trump-national-park-service-tweets/
Online Etymology Dictionary: rogue
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=rogue
Here’s a List of All the U.S. Govt’s Rogue Twitter Accounts Fighting Trump’s Crackdown on Science
http://www.core77.com/posts/60230/Heres-a-List-of-All-the-US-Govts-Rogue-Twitter-Accounts-Fighting-Trumps-Crackdown-on-Science
These 24 ‘rogue’ Twitter accounts claim to be from federal agencies
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/the-conversation/sd-list-rogue-twitter-accounts-from-federal-agencies-20170125-htmlstory.html
Wikipedia: Samizdat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samizdat
DataRefuge
https://www.datarefuge.org/about
Stony Brook student held at JFK in Trump travel ban released
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/stony-brook-student-held-at-jfk-in-trump-travel-ban-released-1.13032310
Image credit: http://www.simplish.org/media/images/gorilla.gif
Transcript
We’re working our way back through the archives. If you think we should prioritise a transcript of this episode, let us know!
