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| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
Better yet, find one of the chimps or gorillas that know sign language and interact with them. |
That's also possible, but:
- Their sign language is extremely less sophisticated than ours. They lack a proper theory of mind, as they can't see
other animals as agents, which is necessary in order to really "engage" in a meaningful conversation.
- Even if they manage to express simple thoughts, the structure of their language still differs quite a lot from ours. They don't know grammar, and there's just one reported case of another primate "making up a word" (I can't remember what her name is... but she called a goose "water-bird"). Without grammar and the resources to name more than, let's say, 100 objects, you'd end up sounding like a 6-year-old quite quickly.
You can find more details on Michael Tomasello's "The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition".
edit: I like how you're trying to tackle this problem though, JBJ, keep going 
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Last edited by Lira on Apr-07-2008 at 04:14
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