“I crave comprehensible input, lexis, and a top down, cognitive approach.”
The chap in the picture is doing very well at learning human languages, and trashing one of Noam Chomsky’s most cherished theories while he’s at it. Oh, and did you know that dogs don’t just smell a bowl of soup – “Dogs have the ability to separate out smells like the water, onion, carrots and chicken.”
If you want to know more, go here.
Ken Carroll
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Dave on
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Did you know that dogs aren’t actually colour blind? They can see colours, just not as brightly as we can. I read that on a Mcdonald’s Happy Meal box.
If this is true……WOW!
Excellent. I’ve always disliked the “natural language organ” theory. It seemed way too much like the “God of the gaps” approach to explaining scientific phenomena that we don’t yet understand.
The real question, of course, is how many hanzi does he know?
Very interesting, it always amazes me how much animals can learn. And chimps don’t even have a Broca’s region. More information on Kanzi’s comprehension and limitations can be found at:
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~rkopp/collegepapers/chimps.html
Under “Methods & Evidence” and “Conclusions and Extensions”
Sometimes I think pet dogs in China know more Chinese than me…