基本説明
動物と話ができるドリトル先生の物語は現実化しそうにない。なぜなら―俗耳を賑わす動物「言語」論争への言語学側からの解答。ヒトの自然言語の本質を問う。Ｐｉｎｋｅｒ＆Ｊａｃｋｅｎｄｏｆｆ（２００３）の参考文献。
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2004. This engrossing book explores communication and cognition in animals and humans from a linguistic point of view and asserts that animals are not capable of acquiring or using human language. Drawings by Amanda Patrick. Winner of the 2004 Professional/ Scholarly Publishing Division Annual Award Competition in the Psychology category.
Full Description
Dr. Dolittle—and many students of animal communication—are wrong: animals cannot use language. This fascinating book explains why.
Can animals be taught a human language and use it to communicate? Or is human language unique to human beings, just as many complex behaviors of other species are uniquely theirs? This engrossing book explores communication and cognition in animals and humans from a linguistic point of view and asserts that animals are not capable of acquiring or using human language.
Stephen R. Anderson explains what is meant by communication, the difference between communication and language, and the essential characteristics of language. Next he examines a variety of animal communication systems, including bee dances, frog vocalizations, bird songs, and alarm calls and other vocal, gestural, and olfactory communication among primates. Anderson then compares these to human language, including signed languages used by the deaf. Arguing that attempts to teach human languages or their equivalents to the great apes have not succeeded in demonstrating linguistic abilities in nonhuman species, he concludes that animal communication systems—intriguing and varied though they may be—do not include all the essential properties of human language. Animals can communicate, but they can't talk.
