The difference of Man; language (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, April 04, 2013, 09:25 (4047 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Comparing infant language learning to chimp learning finds a large difference. the infant uses grammar, the chimp does not:
"Yang also studied language diversity in Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who knows American Sign Language. Nim's word combinations are much less diverse than would be expected if he were combining words independently. This indicates that he is probably mimicking, rather than using grammar. This difference in language use indicates that human children do not acquire language in the same way that non-human primates do. Young children learn rules of grammar very quickly, while a chimpanzee who has spent many years learning language continues to imitate rather than combine words based on grammatical rules."-Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-humans-apes-language-differently.html#jCp-The following is an extract translated from a treatise by Professor Pansy Chim, University of Human Studies, Tanzania:-"The first problem I encountered with the adult specimens was their extreme reluctance not only to learn our language, but even to recognize that it WAS a language. When I attempted to teach them the rudimentary skills of vocalization, facial expression and physical gesture, they seemed unable to differentiate between our sounds and movements, and on the few occasions when they imitated these, they quickly collapsed into paroxysms of laughter. As far as I can tell, their own language is so complex that very few of them have ever mastered it, and their conversations are frequently punctuated by expressions of non-comprehension. Their younger children, however, seemed more cooperative, which suggests the unusual possibility that the children are more intelligent than the adults. This may, however, be due to the phenomenon known as "interference", whereby the more the learner knows (or thinks he knows), the less capable he is of learning. I have noted this elsewhere, when discussing their adults' opinions and beliefs.-My conclusion is that very few humans are capable of learning our language. This may be due to lack of intelligence, or it may be due to the fact that they are unwilling to recognize themselves as part of the animal kingdom. (See also the chapters on sex, family life, social life, education, tools, empathy, emotion, humour, hunting, games, war and peace.)"