RE: Chimps don't talk, but they do cry

Pim van Meurs (entheta@eskimo.com)
Mon, 6 Sep 1999 17:15:54 -0700

SJ: which, while it doesn't exactly say it, suggested to me that the real
difference between modern humans and animals (including hominids) is
that humans alone can speak a true language:

That is of course a "true language" ?

SJ: "Animals seem, in short, to be doing precisely the thing that Chomsky said
humans do not do: applying general cognitive skills to collections of words.
The putative language module, with syntax already built in and allowing
infinite flexibility, is lacking - one of the few human skills that really does
seem to be exclusively human. Animals cannot speak like us; it's just that
the clever ones can use other skills to produce a plausible imitation."

So they speak a different dialect that imitates ours. So what? We cannot fly like some other animals can or swim or hold our breaths or.. or..