NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/sci/environm/10008

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From: [e-mail] (Christopher G. Prince (Prince of Darkness))
Subject: Re: Whale rights - Science and sentimen
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Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 20:34:45 GMT
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(For those just entering this discussion, the context is the language
and communication skills of dolphins).

>1.  What native language?  Outside of science fiction none has been
>found.
>
>2.  Please consider the complexit of interactions and relationships
>that people have been able to develop with dogs, cats, monkeys, apes,
>and pot-bellied pigs.
>
>3.  Please define 'high order intelligence'.  Do we have one?  Do
>dogs?  Do mice?
>
>
>>I think it is probably close to impossible at this point to
>>compare their intelligence with humans', since the respective
>>environments are so completely different, and the respective way
>>in which the two classes of species interact with their environments
>>are so different.
>
>Intelligence is only worthwhile if it is useful. For hundreds of year
>we gave them damned good reason to communicate with us.  They have
>never done so.  Therefore thier intelligence is almost certainly less
>than humans.
>
>(Note that a very simple way to comunicate with us would be to kill
>swimmers and recreational boaters near whaling centers.  Real simple
>and doesn't require similar environments or anything.
>
>>But I have no difficulty saying that the complexity of their language
>>and societies are at LEAST as complex as apes or gorillas.
>
>I challenge you to present eveidence for any language on the part of
>either cetaceans or apes and gorillas.

Although I agree that little if any evidence appears forthcoming from
ethological studies of these animals to support a notion that they
have a structured communication system akin to human language, I will
accept your challenge to present evidence.  The evidence of particular
interest to me does not, however, come from field studies.  It comes
rather, from assuming at first that the animals in question (great apes,
dolphins, etc) do not have a native "language" system, and then asking
the question, "what can they learn about langauge given the right tutoring".

GREAT APES
   Sue Savage-Rumbaugh has made some very interesting progress in the lab
effort to teach great apes human language.  In the last number of years
she has worked with pygmy chimpanzees.  Serendipitously, one of her
animals (Kanzi) spontaneously, several years ago, started learning the
language system they were trying to teach it's mother.  Her project in the
following years has focused on Kanzi and the parallel between his language
acquisition and the language acquisition of the human child.  The spontaneous
nature of his language acquisition is in regard to the sort of learning.
Kanzi has not been involved in a reinforcement based training regimen.
Any reinforcement contingent with his language learning is social, not food
based. Making the claim of a relationship between human language learning
and chimp language learning much more effective.

The following is a current reference to her work.

Savage-Rumbaugh, E. S. (1990).  Language acquisition in a nonhuman species:
implications for the innateness debate.  Developmental Psychobiology, 23(7),
599-620.

DOLPHINS

   Louis M. Herman and colleagues at our lab in Hawaii have been studying
the capacity of dolphins to learn language related skills since
the late 1970's.  This research is 90% comprehension based.  That is,
we primarily study comprehension aspects of language, and not production
aspects.  In this regard, our research is more technical than that
of Savage-Rumbaugh that I cite above.  Our emphasis to date has been to examine
the cognitive capacities of dolphins through the use of artifical language
systems.
   It has clearly been demonstrated by studies out of our facility
(the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab) that dolphins can learn references
to objects, actions, position modifiers, and within these references, can
learn grammatical rules.  Evidence has also been provided that dolphins can
learn a concept of presence/absence.  This is important in establishing
that they can know about a symbol and object displaced in time and space.
Current language research at our lab is providing evidence towards
additional sorts of rules that the dolphins can learn in an artificial
language system.  A conjunction rule has been learned by one our dolphins.

Herman, L. M., Richards, D. G., & Wolz, J. P. (1984).  Comprehension of
sentences by bottlenosed dolphins.  Cognition, 16, 129-219.

SUMMARY
  There are several questions when it comes to the question of animal
language.  One of which is "do animals have 'language'".  Another is
"can they learn 'language'".  It would, in my opinion, be ignoring
much carefully collected data, to say that certain animals
can not learn aspects of language.  I believe, however, that the jury,
in general, is still out on both of the above questions.  On the second
question, in its full sense anyways.  Tomorrow, some bright researcher
may provide a key into the analysis of the sounds of wild cetaceans
and show us they do have a structured communication system akin or analogous
to human language.  On the second question, even though I think some
animals can learn aspects of language, it is still a question as to
how much language they can learn.

NOTE
   A recent posting indicated that a reason why dolphins or cetaceans in
general most probably do not have a language system in the wild, is because
they do not make a large enough of a variety of sounds.  This is
clearly fallacious.  Perhaps that statement can be made regarding certain
non-human primates, who's vocal structures are biologically rather undeveloped.
Cetaceans, and dolphins in particular are rather noted for their spectacular
range of sound productions, and sensory abilities in general.  The bottlenosed
dolphin is a acoustic specialist.  The acoustic sense is it's primary modality
(although it quite fine visually as well).  In echolocation, the dolphin
literally blows the doors of humans in the range of sounds that can be
produced or received.  Dolphins can produce and receive sounds in
echolocation in the 100 KHz range.  Communicative burst pulse sounds and
whistles are also extremely variable in frequency range, as well as many
other sound qualities.  I refer interested readers to:

Herman, L. M. (1980).  Cetacean Behavior: Mechanisms and Functions.
New York:  Wiley.

--
Christopher G. Prince                   | 808-538-0067 (W) 808-735-1054 (H)
Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab (KBMML)  | [e-mail]
U. of Hawaii at Manoa                   | [e-mail]
1129 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu, HI, 96814, U.S.A.