This looks like a fake. But then you watch it carefully, and it looks real. And then you realize that it’s been confirmed by Snopes, so far as they can tell anyway. And then you think, wow.
-
Tags
Administravia Apple Culture Cycling Design Education Films Food Funny Green Health History Home Language Linkdump Money More to come Music People Photography Picks Places Play Politics Ramblings Reader Reading Recommended Religion Rowing Science Sport Tech The InterWeb Thinking Tips TV Work
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
-
Tweet
-
Naked Commerce
-
-
RSS Links
-
Blah Blah Blah
So far I've written 137,655 words in 992 posts. 1,035 comments have been posted, with a total of 67,940 words.
3 Comments
But what about Koko the gorilla that learned to speak using American Sign Language? I thought that was really cool until a friend of mine who is a linguist told me that there is a lot of debate as to whether Koko is actually using language or just, erm, aping responses to hand gestures that got her something she liked, such as food and a hug or whatever. Stimulus/Response isn’t the same thing as a self portrait.
It’s a difficult thing to wrap one’s head around, isn’t it? I suspect Koko did understand what she was saying, based on her invention of compound signs to communicate new ideas. And on the other hand being able to paint a picture (admittedly a very good one) of something you see every day *might* not signify anything much. But it sure looks that way, especially when you see how the picture is built up in a way that suggests planning.
My linguist friend insists Koko’s degree of language ability is still controversial in the field. That’s all I can say, I don’t really know what she means, I’m not a cunning linguist.