Doctor Dolittles Delusion Animals And The Uniqueness Of Human Language

Doctor Dolittle s Delusion

2006-01-01

Author: Stephen R. Anderson

Publisher: Yale University Press

ISBN: 0300115253

Category: Science

Page: 378

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Annotation Dr. Dolittle--and many students of animal communication--are wrong: animals cannot use language. This fascinating book explains why. Can animals be taught a human language and use it to communicate? Or is human language unique to human beings, just as many complex behaviors of other species are uniquely theirs? This engrossing book explores communication and cognition in animals and humans from a linguistic point of view and asserts that animals are not capable of acquiring or using human language. Stephen R. Anderson explains what is meant by communication, the difference between communication and language, and the essential characteristics of language. Next he examines a variety of animal communication systems, including bee dances, frog vocalizations, bird songs, and alarm calls and other vocal, gestural, and olfactory communication among primates. Anderson then compares these to human language, including signed languages used by the deaf. Arguing that attempts to teach human languagesor their equivalents to the great apes have not succeeded in demonstrating linguistic abilities in nonhuman species, he concludes that animal communication systems--intriguing and varied though they may be--do not include all the essential properties of human language. Animals can communicate, but they can't talk. "Written in a playful and highly accessible style, Anderson's book navigates some of the difficult territory of linguistics to provide an illuminating discussion of the evolution of language."--Marc Hauser, author of "Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think.

Chasing Doctor Dolittle

2012-11-27

What Is Language? Anderson, S. R. Doctor Dolittle's Delusion: Animals and the Uniqueness of Human Language. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. Chomsky, N. “Three factors in language design.” Linguistic Inquiry 36 (1) (2005): ...

Author: Con Slobodchikoff, PhD

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

ISBN: 9781250012050

Category: Nature

Page: 320

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"Slobodchikoff's ground-breaking research" (Jonathan Balcombe) shows us that animals have much to teach us about language Groundbreaking research has been done teaching animals human language, but what about the other way around? Studies have shown that lizards, squid, monkeys, and birds are talking to each other, communicating information about food, predators, squabbles, and petty jealousies. These animal languages are unique and highly adaptive. By exploring them, we come to appreciate the basis of our own languages; understanding or even "speaking" them allows us to get closer to the other species who inhabit this planet with us. The implications of animals having language are enormous. It has been one of the last bastions separating "us" from "them." Slobodchikoff's studies of the communication system of prairie dogs over twenty-five years have attracted a considerable amount of attention from the media, including a one-hour documentary on his work produced by BBC and Animal Planet. In Chasing Doctor Dolittle, he posits that the difference is one of degree, not the vast intellectual chasm that philosophers have talked about for millennia. Filled with meticulous research, vivid examples and daring conclusions, this book will challenge the reader's assumptions and open up new possibilities of understanding our fellow creatures.

Kabbalah and Ecology

2015-04-06

... Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals (New York: St. Martin's, 2012) and Stephen R. Anderson, Doctor Dolittle's Delusion: Animals and the Uniqueness of Human Language (New Haven CT: Yale University Press 2004).

Author: David Mevorach Seidenberg

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 9781316240779

Category: Religion

Page:

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Kabbalah and Ecology is a groundbreaking book that resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions. David Mevorach Seidenberg challenges the anthropocentric reading of the Torah, showing that a radically different orientation to the more-than-human world of nature is not only possible, but that such an orientation also leads to a more accurate interpretation of scripture, rabbinic texts, Maimonides and Kabbalah. Deeply grounded in traditional texts and fluent with the physical sciences, this book proposes not only a new understanding of God's image but also a new direction for restoring religion to its senses and to a more alive relationship with the more-than-human, both with nature and with divinity.

Questions About Language

2020-05-19

Doctor Dolittle's delusion: Animals and the uniqueness of human language. New Haven: Yale University Press. Anderson, Stephen R. (2017). The place of human language in the animal world. In Joanna Blochowiak, Cristina Grisot, ...

Author: Laurie Bauer

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781000043372

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 186

View: 496

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Questions About Language sets out to answer, in a readable yet insightful format, a series of vital questions about language, some of which language specialists are regularly asked, and some of which are so surprising that only the specialists think about them. In this handy guide, sixteen language experts answer challenging questions about language, from What makes a language a language? to Do people swear because they don’t know enough words? Illustrating the complexity of human language, and the way in which we use it, the twelve chapters each end with a section on further reading for anyone interested in following up on the topic. Covering core questions about language, this is essential reading for both students new to language and linguistics and the interested general reader.

An Introduction to Language with Online Study Tools 12 Months

2017

Anderson, SR 2004, Doctor Dolittle's delusion: Animals and the uniqueness of human language, Yale University Press, New Haven. Berwick, R C and Chomsky, N 2015, Why only us? Language and evolution, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Author: Victoria Fromkin

Publisher: Cengage AU

ISBN: 9780170386807

Category: Language and languages

Page: 632

View: 112

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An Introduction to Language continues to be instrumental in introducing students to the fascinating study of human language. Engagingly and clearly written, it provides an overview of the key areas of linguistics from an Australian perspective. This classic text is suitable for students in fields as diverse as linguistics, computer science, English, communication studies, anthropology, foreign language teaching and speech pathology. The text is divided into four sections, and chapters take you through the nature of human language, the grammatical aspects and psychology of language, finishing with language and its relation to society. Chapters have also been reworked and revised to keep all syntax up-to-date and accurate. Popular features from previous editions have been retained for this ninth edition including learning objectives and margin definitions in each chapter, along with summary tables inside the covers, which assist you to learn core concepts and terminology.gy.

Formal Models in the Study of Language

2017-03-20

Anderson SR (2004) Doctor Dolittle's delusion: animals and the uniqueness of human language. Yale University Press, New Haven Anderson Stephen R (2013) What is special about the human language faculty, and how did it get that way?

Author: Joanna Blochowiak

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 9783319488325

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 475

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This volume presents articles that focus on the application of formal models in the study of language in a variety of innovative ways, and is dedicated to Jacques Moeschler, professor at University of Geneva, to mark the occasion of his 60th birthday. The contributions, by seasoned and budding linguists of all different linguistic backgrounds, reflect Jacques Moeschler’s diverse and visionary research over the years. The book contains three parts. The first part shows how different formal models can be applied to the analysis of such diverse problems as the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of tense, aspect and deictic expressions, syntax and pragmatics of quantifiers and semantics and pragmatics of connectives and negation. The second part presents the application of formal models to the treatment of cognitive issues related to the use of language, and in particular, demonstrating cognitive accounts of different types of human interactions, the context in utterance interpretation (salience, inferential comprehension processes), figurative uses of language (irony pretence), the role of syntax in Theory of Mind in autism and the analysis of the aesthetics of nature. Finally, the third part addresses computational and corpus-based approaches to natural language for investigating language variation, language universals and discourse related issues. This volume will be of great interest to syntacticians, pragmaticians, computer scientists, semanticians and psycholinguists.

Are Dolphins Really Smart

2013-09-26

Wired Science Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/dolphin-language/. Australian researcher partly decodes dolphin language. ... Doctor Dolittle's Delusion: Animals and the Uniqueness of Human Language.

Author: Justin Gregg

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780199660452

Category: Nature

Page: 310

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How intelligent are dolphins? Is their communication system really as complex as human language? And are they as friendly and peaceful as they are made out to be? Justin Gregg weighs up the claims made about dolphin intelligence and separates scientific fact from fiction. He presents the results of the latest research in animal behaviour, and puts our knowledge about them into perspective with comparisons to scientific studies of other animals, especially the crow family and great apes. He gives fascinating accounts of the challenges of testing what an animal with flippers and no facial expressions might actually be thinking. Gregg's evidence-based approach creates a comprehensive and up-to-date study of this fascinating animal which will appeal to all those intrigued by dolphin behaviour.

An Introduction to Language

2014-08-25

notes references 1 For some teachers of linguistics, using language as a verb is as normal as using table, pen, mind, box, or cup as verbs. ... Doctor Dolittle's Delusion: Animals and the Uniqueness of Human Language.

Author: Kirk Hazen

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 9780470658963

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 456

View: 504

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An Introduction to Language offers an engaging guide to the nature of language, focusing on how language works – its sounds, words, structures, and phrases – all investigated through wide-ranging examples from Old English to contemporary pop culture. Explores the idea of a scientific approach to language, inviting students to consider what qualities of language comprise everyday skills for us, be they sounds, words, phrases, or conversation Helps shape our understanding of what language is, how it works, and why it is both elegantly complex and essential to who we are Includes exercises within each chapter to help readers explore key concepts and directly observe the patterns that are part of all human language Examines linguistic variation and change to illustrate social nuances and language-in-use, drawing primarily on examples from English Avoids linguistic jargon, focusing instead on a broader and more general approach to the study of language, and making it ideal for those coming to the subject for the first time Supported by additional web resources – available upon publication at www.wiley.com/go/hazen/introlanguage – including student study aids and testbank and notes for instructors

The Evolution of Human Cleverness

2022-05-01

In: S. Hurley and M. Nudds, eds. Rational animals? Oxford: Oxford University Press. 6. Anderson S. R., (2004). Doctor Dolittle's delusion: Animals and the uniqueness of human language. Newhaven: Yale University Press.

Author: Richard Hallam

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781000584318

Category: Psychology

Page: 268

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The Evolution of Human Cleverness presents a unique introduction to the way human cognitive abilities have evolved. The book comprises a series of mini-essays on distinct topics in which technical terms are simplified, considering how humans made the long journey from our ape-like ancestors to become capable of higher-level reasoning and problem solving. All the topics are cross-linked, allowing the reader to dip in and out, but certain key concepts run through the underlying reasoning. Chiefly, these are adaptation and selection, the distinction between ultimate and proximate causes of behaviour, gene–culture co-evolution, and domain-general versus domain-specific cognitive processes. The book should help the reader draw lessons for the human species as a whole, especially in view of the environmental threats to its own existence. Entries have been carefully crafted to cut through scientific jargon, providing bite-sized and digestible chunks of knowledge, making the topic accessible for students and lay readers alike. The author draws on research from diverse fields including Psychology, Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology, and Neuroscience to provide an unbiased account of the field, making it an ideal text for students of all levels.

The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Animals

2020-08-11

24 For just a small sample, see Stephen R. Anderson, Doctor Dolittle's Delusion: Animals and the Uniqueness of Human Language (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004) and Fernand Méry, Animal Languages, trans.

Author: Karen Raber

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781000093438

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 352

View: 745

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Shakespeare’s plays have a long and varied performance history. The relevance of his plays in literary studies cannot be understated, but only recently have scholars been looking into the presence and significance of animals within the canon. Readers will quickly find—without having to do extensive research—that the plays are teeming with animals! In this Handbook, Karen Raber and Holly Dugan delve deep into Shakespeare’s World to illuminate and understand the use of animals in his span of work. This volume supplies a valuable resource, offering a broad and thorough grounding in the many ways animal references and the appearance of actual animals in the plays can be interpreted. It provides a thorough overview; demonstrates rigorous, original research; and charts new frontiers in the field through a broad variety of contributions from an international group of well-known and respected scholars.

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