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Wednesday September 12, 2007
He is no more.
He is an ex-parrot.
Well! I was only talking about him just recently .... and this evening listening to PM on the way home from Warwick I find he has died at the age of 31 - not old for a parrot apparently.
I am a terrible bore on the subject of "talking" animals - I was completely captivated by Washoe the chimpanzee - and this is what led me to watch a Horizon** programme, where I first saw Alex the African grey parrot, along with Dr. Irene Pepperberg, the researcher who started working with Alex (Avian Learning EXperiment) 30 years ago. What I always found so amusing is that Alex, although he speaks cognitively, is actually a perfect mimic, so his voice, intonation, and accent are exactly that of Dr Pepperberg herself. She did have a rather obvious and somewhat maternal relationship with the bird ... but ... why not? He was very appealing. Here is a link where you can see him at work. Go on - he was one of the truly great parrots...
These animals who have learnt to communicate with us on our own terms are fascinating, and I enjoy reading articles on the research. I enjoy the fact that chimps are interested mainly in food and tickling (and sex I guess but that was never dwelt upon in the reports I heard of these studies). Although this communication is all in the form of signing, it seems very clear that they do have "language" - which maybe we would understand better if we were able to communicate with them on their own terms, rather than teaching them signing that we have invented.
This brings me to the second point that always amused me. Some (famous) linguists are quite determined that whatever these animals have, it is absolutely not language. They then define language to exclude these other forms of communication- the first attempt was suggesting that the chimps just use words but not sentences and have no idea of syntax. Then the researchers pointed out that the chimps knew full well the difference between "I tickle you" and "You tickle me". So the linguists changed the definition of language yet again. Such is the arrogance of the human race. I can see that they seem to have a small vocabulary, and limited grammar, so they have nothing like the sophistication of our verbal communication... but who knows? They are communicating in, not just a foreign language, but more like an alien language. I have not seen any more recent studies on chimps but I'm not sure we ever got to learn their own non-verbal method of communication, even though empirical research made it clear that they have one.
** I think the programme I watched was "HORIZON: SIGNS OF THE APES, SONGS OF THE WHALES" in 1984. Horizon is a TV documentary programme with a long history of excellence (here speaks a woman who watches only crime drama on TV). It covers a wide range of topics within the world of science and technology - which may be why I find it more appealing than other documentary series.
Posted by Christina at 8:54 PM. Category: Oddments and stray thoughts
