User:Ejohnso9/sandbox

= Human-animal communication = Human-animal communication is a broad umbrella term that can refer to a number of different kinds of communication between humans and animals, at varying levels of complexity. More basic forms of this communication include training pets (dogs, cats, birds) to obey verbal commands and interacting with animals who can imitate human speech (in most cases, these imitations are purely phonological, without any abstract reasoning or creative generation of language). More complex forms of communication between humans and animals can be seen in John Lilly’s experiments with dolphins, as well as multiple famous experiments involving primates using sign language. Even some parrots have been documented as being able to move beyond just imitation of human voices.

Birds
Although much of human language “spoken” by birds can be attributed to mere imitation of sounds, Alex the African grey parrot seemed to be able to use language creatively. Though his vocabulary of about 100 words did not break any records, he exhibited other apparent cognitive advancements, showing in experiments with his trainer Irene Pepperberg that he acquired the concept of “same/different,” could label cardinal sets, and could combine the handful of nouns, adjectives, and other phrases into novel requests for several different objects. Pepperberg’s research was published in numerous scientific journals.

Another African grey, called N’kisi, reportedly possessed a vocabulary of close to 950 words. N’kisi seemed able to combine these words into novel phrases, and was even thought to possess a sense of humor expressed in occasional wordplay. Many people have expressed doubt at the experimental validity of these claims, however, since his trainer claimed he could also perform telepathy.

Even songbirds, though unable to imitate human speech in the way parrots can, have been documented as having complex “languages” and vocabularies (learn more at bird vocalization).

Dolphins
In the 1960s, John Lilly, M.D., contemporary and associate of Timothy Leary, began experiments in the Virgin Islands aiming to establish meaningful communication between humans and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Experimenter Margaret Howe Lovatt agreed to a  two-and-a-half-month long experiment, living in isolation with a dolphin named Peter.

A basic outline of Peter the dolphin's apparent linguistic progress is as follows: early lessons involved mostly noise and interruptions from Peter during English lessons. After several weeks, Peter seemed to make an effort to imitate the instructor's speech, making human-like sounds, which were recorded. More interesting was the dolphin's apparent grasp of basic semantics, such as the different aural indicators for 'ball' and 'doll' and other toys present in the aquarium. Peter was able to perform tasks such as retrieval on the (aurally) indicated object without fail. Later in the project, Peter appeared to be able to process linguistic syntax, in that he could distinguish between the commands like "Bring the ball to the doll," versus "Bring the doll to the ball." This ability appeared to demonstrate a grasp of basic grammar.

Much of this experiment has been called into question in the years since, due to unethical treatment of the dolphins and to the eventual disgrace of John Lilly as a scientist. John Lilly is not a linguist, and among many other issues, the experiment does not appear to have been conducted with any deep understanding of human linguistics and its properties.

Much later, experiments by Louis Herman, a former collaborator and student of Lilly's, appeared to show that dolphins were able to master a computer-generated language with arbitrary and complex grammar.

Primates
As part of a large-scale human-primate language study, Nim Chimpsky was raised in a human household and taught to communicate with his handlers using sign language. The hope was that, since humans and apes are such close evolutionary relatives, maybe it was merely environmental factors that separated their language abilities from ours. Nim learned many relevant signs and was able to combine them frequently into adjective-noun constructions, and even appeared to combine them in novel ways without first being shown the sequence, but video footage later revealed some of Nim’s caregivers making the same signs seconds before Nim did, revealing that much of his progress was just through imitation. Even though the experimenters had grand visions of Nim’s language abilities growing like those of a human child, his language stagnated with short two- and three-word constructions, never fully taking on the properties of human language, and the experiment ended when he attacked one of the experimenters.

Koko is a western lowland gorilla who also grew up learning sign language, but unlike Nim, was also exposed to spoken English as well. Although Koko has mastered many signs, and seemed early in her experiment to acquire language with human-child-like speed and efficiency, she has not seemed to grasp any higher-order sense of grammar or syntax, and her language abilities are limited to those equivalent to a young human child. Koko is probably best known for her appearances in videos with late comedian Robin Williams, in which language does not seem to be much of a barrier; Koko was much beloved by Williams, and her interactions with him endeared her to many.

Implications
If human-animal communication ever reaches a point of mutual understanding beyond the rudimentary, the argument for the uniqueness of human language could be called into question. By continuing to study the mechanisms that underlie human language and animal systems of communication, linguists, zoologists, and scientists of various disciplines could continue to learn how these systems evolved and where the deeper commonalities lie. However, to date there have not been any definitive studies that place any animal communication system near the complexity of human language.

Through cross-disciplinary study and cooperation, strides can also be made along these lines toward figuring out language's path through evolution. Further research on primates, as the closest living relatives of humans, in fields like Genetics and Psychology could bring new ideas about the evolution of language to the forefront, and much research is already being done on the genetics of language. Continuing to walk these paths in light of the strides already made in studying human-animal communication can only lead to more discoveries, especially if the many disciplines of genetics, linguistics, psychology, biology, etc. can cooperate and collaborate.