Language evolution

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

Amutually understood system of communication

Question 2

What are the cognitive prerequisites for language?

Answer 2

> Conceptual understanding
> Joint/shared attention
> Imitation
> Symbols, icons and indices
> Pattern finding

Question 3

What is Quine’s problem?

Answer 3

How can one understand the meaning of a word just by hearing it in the presence of the object to which it refers?

Question 4

What did Seyfarth et al (1980) find?

Answer 4

> Infant vervets
Referential communication
Alarm calls refer to martial eagles specifically

Question 5

What did Bugnyar et al (2001) find?

Answer 5

> Ravens
Referential communication
Different food calls according to presence, type and amount

Question 6

Why can’t chimps speak?

Answer 6

> Vocal anatomy ( larynx is not descended)

> Neuroanatomy allows for understanding and forming language

Question 7

Who was Washoe?

Answer 7

> First chimp to learn sign language
Learned 350 words
Taught them to her son
Created novel combinations for unknown words

Question 8

What did Miles et al (1990) find?

Answer 8

> Taught an orangutan sign language
Created novel signs
Learned Food, Drink and Emphasizers fastest
Actions and Colours slowest

Question 9

What did Patterson and Linden (1981) find?

Answer 9

> Gorilla
Sign Language
1000 signs
Level of understanding, grammar and syntax questionable

Question 10

What are the problems with ape language studies?

Answer 10

> Shows learning, but not understanding
Little to no awareness of grammar
Learning is slow

Question 11

What did Premack (1971) find?

Answer 11

> Chimp
Taught a symbolic language
Demonstrated understanding
Awareness/understanding of conditional sentences (awareness of grammar)

Question 12

What did Savage-Rumbaugh et al (1978) find?

Answer 12

> Chimps
Symbolic language
Used to communicate with each other to solve feed retrieval problem

Question 13

What was Kanzi used to demonstrate?

Answer 13

> Ape
Awareness of syntax in taught commands
Given sentences requesting conjunctive actions (one object on top of another, in another, taken to another, taken from another)

Question 14

What did Gisiner and Schusterman (1992) find?

Answer 14

> Sea lion
Physical language
Can interpret grammar and syntax

Question 15

What did Kaminski et al (2004) find?

Answer 15

> Collie
Fast mapping (quickly linking names to objects) present
Object recognition demonstrated through fetching
Fetched novel items 70% of the time

Question 16

What did Bloom (2004) suggest?

Answer 16

> Critiqued Kaminski et al (2004)

> Suggested dog did not understand sentence, just associated vocalisations with previous actions (learned behaviour)

Question 17

What did Pepperberg (1988) find?

Answer 17

> Macaw

> Model/Rival training