AR-News: (ENN) Monkeys illuminate language advance and other stories

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

Monkeys Illuminate Language Advance 
The talent that gave humans alone mastery over language may have been 
identified. In a new study, psychologists Marc Hauser of Harvard University and W. 
Tecumseh Fitch of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, compared the ability 
of monkeys and humans to recognize grammar rules.

The concept of word ordering — the idea that certain kinds of words must 
follow other types of words, as in the article-pair "a tree" — is a basic 
component of language. The scientists played recordings of one-syllable words spoken 
alternately by a man and a woman to both cotton-top tamarin monkeys and college 
students. The monkeys looked at the loudspeaker whenever the pattern varied, 
indicating they had noticed the change; the human subjects also picked up the 
pattern alterations. The scientists then played recordings of a man speaking 
one to three words, followed by a woman speaking the same number of words. The 
rule corresponds to the "if ... then ..." phrase structure of language.

All the human subjects correctly identified pattern changes, even though they 
were often unable to articulate the structure of the pattern itself. The 
monkeys, however, recognized none of the variations. The cognitive ability to spot 
recursive language patterns may have been what allowed humans to develop 
their linguistic genius, the researchers report in the journal Science.




full story:
http://www.enn.com/news/2004-01-28/s_12467.asp



"The world is a dangerous place,
not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing.",
Albert Einstein

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