The evolution of the capacity for language

General discussion about learning languages
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Deinonysus
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Re: The evolution of the capacity for language

Postby Deinonysus » Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:34 pm

I think this recent news article is also related:

Neanderthals – not modern humans – were first artists on Earth, experts claim.

More than 65,000 years ago, a Neanderthal reached out and made strokes in red ochre on the wall of a cave, and in doing so, became the first known artist on Earth, scientists claim.

...

In a study published in Science on Thursday, an international team led by researchers in the UK and Germany dated calcite crusts that had grown on top of ancient art works in three caves in Spain. Because the crusts formed after the paintings were made, the material gives a minimum age for the underlying art.

Measurements from all three caves revealed that paintings on the walls predated the arrival of modern humans by at least 20,000 years. At La Pasiega cave near Bilbao in the north, a striking ladder-like painting has been dated to more than 64,800 years old. Faint paintings of animals sit between the “rungs”, but these may have been added when Homo sapiens found the caves millennia later.

...

“To my mind this closes the debate on Neanderthals,” said João Zilhão, a researcher on the team at the University of Barcelona. “They are part of our family, they are ancestors, they were not cognitively distinct, or less endowed in terms of smarts. They are just a variant of humankind that as such exists no more.”


See also:
So Neanderthals made abstract art? This astounding discovery humbles every human
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DaveAgain
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Re: The evolution of the capacity for language

Postby DaveAgain » Wed Jan 12, 2022 10:12 pm

Deinonysus wrote:I believe some whales (orcas, maybe?) are also known to have "dialects" that are passed down. Another important reminder that just because an animal can't use or understand human grammar, it doesn't mean they don't have a complex grammar of their own.
I watched a documentary about an attempt to understand the language of Orca Whales earlier, The language of whales
A team of researchers headed by Professor Elmar Noeth and Rachael Cheng from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg spent three years collecting data on the movements and vocalization of various orca pods in the Pacific. Their aim was to investigate a possible connection between the patterns of the killer whales‘ calls and their behavior. Using special microphones, they captured the underwater sounds and behaviors of these marine mammals. Then they tried to determine the whales‘ position and classify their calls. It’s a first step towards solving the mysteries of whale song.

This is a team effort between some Canadian and German boffins. DeepAL is I think the project's name.
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