In reference to the quote David cited, there are a couple of Russian resear=
chers who trace language by humans to birdsong. Their hypothesis is that ma=
n learned to make sounds to communicate from hearing birds sing.
My experience with talking birds is a type of back-door (reverse) reinforce=
ment of their work. What I find is that many birds, often unknown to their =
owners, learn English (cannot attest to other than English as I am only flu=
ent in one language). Anyway, by working in reverse, I find, specifically, =
that my macaw learn(s)(ed) language. Since English is learned as a child mi=
ght in a natural environment by some birds. it seems to indicate that learn=
ing English is simply a second language for the bird. Hence parrots demonst=
rate through second language learning that it is highly likely that they ha=
ve great capacity to master language, likely because they have all the tool=
s to create a language of their own. (Yes, for skeptics, parrots can learn =
a bunch of English principles to be able to manipulate terms and create new=
locutions, some of which may contain the same errors made by toddles such =
as "He heared it!"=C2=A0
Regards,
MikeFloridawww.ParrotSpeech.com
BBC What the Songbird Said
Tue May=C2=A012,=C2=A02015 4:49=C2=A0am (PDT) . Posted by:
madl74
for those who can access it, BBC Radio 4 have just transmitted an
interesting programme on "bird language". "What the Songbird Said" is on:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tz9jr
and it will be repeated on Monday 18 May.
Quote;
"Could birdsong tell us something about the evolution of human language?
Language is arguably the single thing that most defines what it is to be
human and unique as a species. But its origins - and its apparent sudden
emergence around a hundred thousand years ago - remains mysterious and
perplexing to researchers. "
David Brinicombe
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