Contribution TMA06
'Humans have evolved to be fundamentally distinct from other animals'. Critically evaluate this claim drawing on evidence from Chapter 2 and 3 in Book 2.
Communication is essential in both humans and other animals. It can take different forms, from birds using a song to attract mates, to humans using symbols to convey meaning, and from cats and dogs using certain postures to signal aggression to humans using gestures to convey a message (Cooper T. and Kaye H., 2007). Ethology studies and case studies have been performed on our primates to compare human language with animal communication and to teach apes human language. The results suggested that animal communication, although similar to some degrees to human language, yet is qualitatively different. In investigating the evolution of language, this paper will evaluate whether or not human language can account for human distinctiveness from other animals. In doing so, this paper will evaluate the evolutionary process of human language based on two different accounts: one presented by Pinker (2000), who argued that language promoted a distinctive adaptive advantage, and the other suggested by Sperber (2000), who argued that language arose as a by product of cognitive abilities. Language is used by a variety of different species to communicate. For example, Karl Von-Frisch (1950) after having studied bees, found that bees once they had returned to their hives performed certain dances to communicate other bees where and how far the food was. Moreover, Seyfarth et al. (1980), after having studied velvet monkeys, found that they communicated to their members the type of predators by giving different alarms calls. So for example if it were an eagle to look out for, the monkey's call would cause its members to look up in the sky, where as if it were a leopard, its members would immediately climb in the trees (Cooper T and Kaye H, 2007). Therefore it can be said that animals, just as humans do, use language to
Communication is essential in both humans and other animals. It can take different forms, from birds using a song to attract mates, to humans using symbols to convey meaning, and from cats and dogs using certain postures to signal aggression to humans using gestures to convey a message (Cooper T. and Kaye H., 2007). Ethology studies and case studies have been performed on our primates to compare human language with animal communication and to teach apes human language. The results suggested that animal communication, although similar to some degrees to human language, yet is qualitatively different. In investigating the evolution of language, this paper will evaluate whether or not human language can account for human distinctiveness from other animals. In doing so, this paper will evaluate the evolutionary process of human language based on two different accounts: one presented by Pinker (2000), who argued that language promoted a distinctive adaptive advantage, and the other suggested by Sperber (2000), who argued that language arose as a by product of cognitive abilities. Language is used by a variety of different species to communicate. For example, Karl Von-Frisch (1950) after having studied bees, found that bees once they had returned to their hives performed certain dances to communicate other bees where and how far the food was. Moreover, Seyfarth et al. (1980), after having studied velvet monkeys, found that they communicated to their members the type of predators by giving different alarms calls. So for example if it were an eagle to look out for, the monkey's call would cause its members to look up in the sky, where as if it were a leopard, its members would immediately climb in the trees (Cooper T and Kaye H, 2007). Therefore it can be said that animals, just as humans do, use language to