Week 3 - Animal Communication Systems !

Question 1

Can animals communicate?

Answer 1

ofcourse

• howl
• feed me
• pay attention
• hiss

Set REPERTOIRE of LIMITED ITEMS

lang? no.

Question 2

The European honey bee communication

Answer 2

• Scout bees perform 1 of 2 dances, which indicate:
  > distance
  > direction
  > extent of food source

innate, though young bees get better w practice

ROUND DANCE:

• food within 10m
• SPEED/DURATION = richness of foodsource
• scent on bee = type of food

btwn - either

TAIL-WAGGING DANCE

• over 100m away
• orientation of straight line portion = direction according to sun
• length of time wagging = distance
• excitation level = richness

Question 3

Birds - Calls and Songs

Answer 3

CALLS = short note sequences assoc. w events/activities
small no. w discr functs:
  - flight, flocking feeding
  - special alarm, general alarm
  - aggression/pleasure

SONGS = establish TERRITORY, attract MATES
- may be innate (cuckoo), partially/completely learned
> general chara innate, finer learned
- some spcs male/female calls distinct by hormonal syst

Question 4

whales and dolphines

Answer 4

SMALL NO. of discrete VOCALISATIONS with reference to EXTernal
conditions or INTernal states

Pure tones

 - whistles (signature, distress)
 - squeaks

Pulsed sounds

- Reg. Clicks (echo)
- Bark/yelp/moan (emotional sts)

Question 5

Primate Communication

Answer 5

• Highly CONTEXTUALISED
• Multimodal
  > GESTURE
  > POSTURE
  > SMELL
• more signs than birdcalls, no real diff in /complexity/

Question 6

Hockett’s Design features for Human Language

Answer 6

• 16
• can be used in comparing diff comms systems

4 relevant:

1. ARBITRARINESS
2. DUALITY OF PATTERNING
3. DISPLACEMENT
4. PRODUCTIVITY/CREATIVITY

Question 7

Hockett’s ARBITRARINESS

Answer 7

Human lang = SYMBOLIC, ergo arbitrary

Most animal = NOT. EG: Acoustic structure of birdcalls often directly related to function

Example of Arbitrary Animal: Honey Bee Dance

Question 8

Hockett’s DISPLACEMENT

Answer 8

Human Lang = communicate about something DISTANT in TIME/SPACE or IMAGINARY
- FREEDOM FROM STIMULOUS/RESPONSE

Animals = NOT. EG: Bees cant say “wonder if theres good nectar in Buenos Aires?”

Question 9

Hockett’s DUALITY OF PATTERNING

Answer 9

Human Lang = combo of (meaningless) parts to meaningFUL wholes
(morphemes/phones/words)

Animals = signs NOT decomposable into Parts

Question 10

Hockett’s PRODUCTIVITY/CREATIVITY

Answer 10

Human Lang units can be combined to create INFINITE NUMBER of entirely novel sentences

Animals = NOT

Question 11

what constitutes HUMAN language

Answer 11

Lang competence involves:

• SEMANTICS
• SYNTAX
• PRAGMATICS

Question 12

People who think animals are using language are engaging in

Answer 12

• wishful thinking
• “clever hans” effect
• overinterpretation (nim chimpsky - copying, random, prompting. washoe - transforming data by deleting markers)
• anthropomorphism fallaxy