Describing gorillas with a vocabulary of 200+ words as an "endearing trick" is ridiculous beyond belief. I expected more of you, Michael!
Every time a prey animal goes behind a rock and the hunter anticipates it coming around the other side, or jumps over the top, implies a knowledge of "elsewhere."
What is language "in the full sense of the term"? Because humans can't jump as high as kangaroos, we don't have jumping "in the full sense of the term?" Because we can't see into the ultraviolet, we can't see "in the full sense of the term"?
--- On Thu, 4/16/09, Michael Pollak <mpollak at panix.com> wrote:
>
> Despite some endearing tricks with apes and a parrot named
> Alex, it's pretty widely accepted by linguists that, while
> many animals communicate, and often in very complex ways,
> only humans have language in the full sense of the
> term. There are many features the distinguish
> language, but IIUC one simple test nobody else has been able
> to pass yet is the ability to discuss something located in
> the past or future, or simply elsewhere.
>
> Michael
>
>
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