Questions in Animal Language Research
Animal language research attempts to answer the following questions:
- What problems can animals solve without language, and can they solve them better after they have received language training?
- Can the lessons learned in teaching animals be applied to human children?
- How, and how much, do animals' abilities to learn language differ from those of humans?
- Are the abilities that underlie language general or highly specialized?
- Where is the line between language and other forms of communication?
Read more about this topic: Great Ape Language
Famous quotes containing the words questions, animal, language and/or research:
“Preschoolers sound much brighter and more knowledgeable than they really are, which is why so many parents and grandparents are so sure their progeny are gifted and super-bright. Because children’s questions sound so mature and sophisticated, we are tempted to answer them at a level of abstraction far beyond the child’s level of comprehension. That is a temptation we should resist.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“While you are divided from us by geographical lines, which are imaginary, and by a language which is not the same, you have not come to an alien people or land. In the realm of the heart, in the domain of the mind, there are no geographical lines dividing the nations.”
—Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919)
“One of the most important findings to come out of our research is that being where you want to be is good for you. We found a very strong correlation between preferring the role you are in and well-being. The homemaker who is at home because she likes that “job,” because it meets her own desires and needs, tends to feel good about her life. The woman at work who wants to be there also rates high in well-being.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)