> ...some monkey dialects can be just as sophisticated as human language.
These kinds of throw-away claims are a form of perennial nonsense. Nothing in the article suggests anything close to this being true. He looks at the shades of meaning of three sounds and yet asserts a similar sophistication to human speech.
It's a regular meme in animal articles that this group (monkeys here, other times dolphins or whales) have language skills that rival humans. It's a kind of warm fuzzy feel-good claim asserted regularly despite supporting evidence.
Honestly, I feel like most of the article is throw-away material. They're claiming to have "derived" syntax and grammar from a simple lexicon, which as far as I can tell consists only of referents. In reality, they are just artificially imposing their own ideas of language on top of animal calls. Yes, the calls do convey meaning, but that does not make a language.
It's like gluing a bunch of toothpicks to steel girders, then saying you can build a bridge out of toothpicks.
I don't think it's true but remember that decoding animal language is ridiculously hard. Our understanding of it is basically "play sound - see what animals say". And even that is nontrivial as the article points out.
... and then I realize that the dolphins in the comic are repeating: "hey, do you speak spanish?" and "what's up?" in spanish to the humans... brilliant.
I can't help but notice the uncanny resemblance between the sound of a cafeteria busy with many conversations, and the sound of a large tree full of birds chirping in the morning as the sun rises.
These kinds of throw-away claims are a form of perennial nonsense. Nothing in the article suggests anything close to this being true. He looks at the shades of meaning of three sounds and yet asserts a similar sophistication to human speech.
It's a regular meme in animal articles that this group (monkeys here, other times dolphins or whales) have language skills that rival humans. It's a kind of warm fuzzy feel-good claim asserted regularly despite supporting evidence.