TEACHING ANIMALS TO TALK

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 407.

П. Reading Activities.

B. Discuss the following questions.

A. Practise the pronunciation of the following words and memorize them.

UNIT TEN

1. Pre-reading Activities.

• distinguish /dɪˈstɪŋwɪʃ/ • acquire /ə'kwaɪə/ • procedure /prəˈsiːdʒə/ • failure /ˈfeɪljə/ • spontaneous /spɒnˈteɪnɪəs/ • divert /daɪ'vɜːt/ • coach /kəʊtʃ/ • rigorous /ˈrɪg(ə)rəs/ • ignition /ɪgˈnɪʃ(ə)n/

1. How do the following animals and creatures communicate with other members of the same species?

• grasshoppers • whales

• bees • rabbits

• monkeys • fish

• peacocks • snakes/lizards

2. Can you think of any other ways living creatures use to communicate? 3. Why do they need to communicate?

1. Read the text to find out which animal has been used most successfully in experiments to teach animals to «talk».

The Articulate Mammal, Jean Aitchison

In discussing attempts to teach language to animals it is important to distinguish mimicry from true language. Parrots and mynah birds can imitate humans with uncanny accuracy. But it is unlikely that they ever understand what people are saying. There are reports of a grey parrot which could say 'Good morning' and `Good evening' at the right times, and 'Good bye` when guests left. But most talking birds are merely 'parrotting' back what they hear. For example, a budgerigar I knew heard a puppy being trained with words such as 'Sit! 'Naughty boy!' and used to shriek 'Sit! 'Naughty boy!' whenever anyone went near its cage, whether or not the dog was present.

Although psychologists have spent considerable time experimenting with mynah birds, it is perhaps not surprising that the results have been disappointing. Apes seem 20 more promising candidates. Over the past fifty or so years several attempts have been made to teach human language to chimpanzees.

The first experiment was a failure. An animal named Gua was acquired by professor and Mrs Kellogg in 1931, when she was seven months old. She was brought up as if she was a human baby, and was fed with a spoon, bathed, pinned up in nappies, and continuously exposed to speech. Although she 30 eventually managed to understand the meaning of over seventy single words, she never spoke. Gua showed clearly that it was not just lack of opportunity which prevents a chimp from learning language. The Kelloggs' son Donald, who was brought up alongside Gua, and was approximately the same age, grew up speaking normally.

A second chimp acquired by Keith and Cathy Hayes in 1947 also proved disappointing. Viki was given intensive coaching in English. She eventually learnt four words: PAPA, MAMA, CUP, UP. But these were very unclearly articulated, and remained the sum total of Viki`s utterances after three years of hard training.

It is now clear why these attempts failed. Chimps are not physiologically capable of uttering human sounds. More recent experiments have avoided this trap and used sign language, the manipulation of tokens, or button pressing. Let us consider some of this later research.

Over the past twenty years, teaching language to apes has become a popular pastime among American psychologists. There was a minor population explosion of 'talking chimps' in the 1970s. Washoe was one of the first chimps to acquire a significant amount of language.

Washoe's exact age is unknown. She is a female chimp acquired by Professor and Mrs Gardner in 1966, when she was thought to be approximately a year old. She has been taught to use modified American sign language (ASL). In this system signs stand for words. For example, Washoe's word for 'sweet' is made by putting her finger on the top of her tongue, while wagging the tongue. Her word for 'funny' is signalled by pressing the tip of her finger on to her nose, and uttering a snort.

Washoe acquired her language in a fairly 'natural' way. The Gardners kept her continuously surrounded by humans who communicated with her and each other by signs. They hoped that some of this would 'rub off on her. Sometimes they asked her to imitate them, or tried to correct her. But there were no rigorous training schedules.

Even so, teaching a wild chimpanzee can be quite a problem: 'Washoe can become completely diverted from her original object, she may ask for something entirely different, run away, go into a tantrum, or even bite her tutor.' But her progress was impressive and, at least in the early stages, her language development was not unlike that of a human child.

First, she acquired a number of single words, for example, COME, GIMME, HURRY, SWEET, TICKLE - which amounted to thirty-four after twenty-one months, but later crept up to well over one hundred. The number is accurate because a rota of students and researchers made sure that Washoe, who lived in a caravan in the Gardners' garden, was never alone when she was awake. And a sign was assumed to be acquired only after Washoe had used it spontaneously and appropriately on consecutive days.

Washoe's speech clearly had meaning. She had no difficulty in understanding that a sign 'means' a certain object or action, as was shown by her acquisition of the word for 'toothbrush' (index finger rubbed against teeth). She was forced, at first against her will, to have her teeth brushed after every meal. Consequently, she had seen the sign for 'toothbrush' on numerous occasions, though she had never used it herself. One day, when she was visiting the Gardners' home she found a mug of toothbrushes in the bathroom. Spontaneously, she made the sign for 'toothbrush'. She was not asking for a toothbrush, as they were within reach. Nor was she asking to have her teeth brushed, a procedure she hated. She appeared simply to be 'naming' the object. Similarly, Washoe made the sign for 'flower' (holding the fingertips of one hand together and touching the nostrils with them) when she was walking towards a flower garden, and another time when she was shown a picture of flowers.

Washoe could also generalize from one situation to another, as was clear from her use of the sign meaning 'more'. Like all chimps, she loved being tickled, and she would pester any companion to continue tickling her by using the 'more' sign. At first the sign was specific to the tickling situation. Later, she used it to request continuation of another favourite activity - being pushed across the floor in a laundry basket. Eventually, she extended the 'more' sign to feeding and other activities. Similarly the word for 'key' referred originally only to the key used to unlock the doors and cupboards in Washoe's caravan. Later, she used the sign spontaneously to refer to a wide variety of keys, including car ignition keys. Her 'speech' also incorporated a limited amount of displacement, since she could ask for absent objects and people.