Do animals have language? - Michele Bishop

翻译人员: Alex Ho 校对人员: Jiawei Ni

All animals communicate.

所有的动物都会相互交流。

Crabs wave their claws at each other to signal that they're healthy

螃蟹相互间挥舞钳子表明它们健康

and ready to mate.

并准备交配。

Cuttlefish use pigmented skin cells called chromatophores

乌贼使用叫色素体的皮肤色素细胞

to create patterns on their skin that act as camouflage

在它们的皮肤上创造图案形成伪装，

or warnings to rivals.

用来迷惑或警示敌人。

Honeybees perform complex dances

蜜蜂通过表演复杂的舞蹈

to let other bees know the location and quality of a food source.

来让其他的蜜蜂知道 食物源的位置和质量。

所有的动物都有一流的交流系统，

All of these animals have impressive communication systems,

but do they have language?

但它们有语言吗？

To answer that question,

为了回答这个问题，

we can look at four specific qualities that are often associated with language:

我们来看下跟语言相关的4个特质:

discreteness,

分离性，

grammar,

语法性，

productivity,

创造性，

和时空性。

and displacement.

Discreteness means that there is a set of individual units,

分离性是指一组独立的单元，

such as sounds or words,

比如声音或者词语，

that can be combined to communicate new ideas,

能够被组合在一起传达新的想法。

like a set of refrigerator poetry magnets you can rearrange

就像贴在冰箱门上的诗词磁条

to create different phrases.

可以通过重组来创建不同的词汇。

Grammar provides a system of rules

语法性提供了一套规则

that tells you how to combine those individual units.

让你知道如何组合那些独立单元。

Productivity is the ability to use language

创造性是运用语言

to create an infinite number of messages.

来创造无限量信息的能力。

And displacement is the ability to talk about things

时空性是谈论那些

that aren't right in front of you,

不在眼前事物，

such as past, future, or fictional events.

比如过去，未来或者虚构事件。

So, does animal communication exhibit any of these qualities?

那么，这些动物交流时 会展现出其中任何的特质吗？

For crabs and cuttlefish, the answer is no.

就螃蟹和乌贼而言，答案是不会。

They don't combine their signals in creative ways.

它们不会以创新的方式 来衔接这些信号。

Those signals also don't have to be in a grammatical order,

那些信号没有必要 按照语法的顺序排列，

and they only communicate current conditions,

它们只交流现状，

like, "I am healthy," or "I am poisonous."

比如，“我很健康”，或者“我有毒”。

但有一些动物们会展现出这些特性。

But some animals actually do display some of these properties.

蜜蜂们在舞蹈中通过摇摆舞的 位置变动，角度，时长和强度

Bees use the moves, angle, duration, and intensity of their waggle dance

to describe the location and richness of a food source.

来描述食物源的位置和富裕程度。

That source is outside the hive,

食物源位于蜂巢之外，

so they exhibit the property of displacement.

所以它们展现出了时空性。

它们分享了跟土拨鼠一样的语言特征，

They share that language trait with prairie dogs,

which live in towns of thousands,

土拨鼠住在数千个城镇中，

是土狼，老鹰， 獾，蛇 和人类的猎物。

and are hunted by coyotes, hawks, badgers, snakes, and humans.

它们的警报展现了捕猎者的 大小，体型，速度，

Their alarms calls indicate the predator's size, shape, speed,

and, even for human predators, what the person is wearing

甚至包括人类狩猎者的穿着，

and if he's carrying a gun.

以及是否带着枪。

类人猿，比如黑猩猩和大猩猩， 也很善于交流。

Great apes, like chimps and gorillas, are great communicators, too.

Some have even learned a modified sign language.

甚至有一些学会了改进后的手语。

A chimpanzee named Washoe demonstrated discreteness

一只名叫Washoe的黑猩猩， 通过将不同的手势

转换成原始的词组，展现了其分立性，

by combining multiple signs into original phrases,

像“快打开门”。

like, "Please open. Hurry."

Coco,一只能明白1000多种手势，

Coco, a female gorilla who understands more than 1000 signs,

and around 2000 words of spoken English

和大约2000个 英语口语词汇的雌猩猩，

referred to a beloved kitten that had died.

提到了一只刚死去的可爱小花猫。

In doing so, she displayed displacement,

她的这种表现显示出了时空性，

though it's worth noting that the apes in both of these examples

但值得注意的是类人猿 在这两个案例中

were using a human communication system,

用的是人类的交流体系，

not one that appeared naturally in the wild.

而并不是任何天然形成的特性。

There are many other examples of sophisticated animal communication,

动物们还有很多复杂交流的案例，

such as in dolphins,

比如海豚，

which use whistles to identify age, location, names, and gender.

同过吹口哨来辨别年龄， 位置，姓名和性别。

They can also understand some grammar

它们也懂一些研究人员

in a gestural language researchers use to communicate with them.

用来与之交流的语法。

然而，在海豚的自然交流中 是不存在语法的。

However, grammar is not seen in the dolphin's natural communication.

While these communication systems

虽然这些交流体系中

may have some of the qualities of language we've identified,

会体现出一些我们所知的语言特性，

none display all four.

但并不包含全部四个。

Even Washoe and Coco's impressive abilities are still outpaced

即便Washoe和Coco 拥有一流的语言能力，

by the language skills of most three-year-old humans.

也不如大多数3岁孩子的语言技巧。

And animals' topics of conversation are usually limited.

动物们对话的内容通常都很有限。

Bees talk about food,

蜜蜂谈论食物，

prairie dogs talk about predators,

土拨鼠讨论捕食者，

and crabs talk about themselves.

螃蟹讨论它们自己。

Human language stands alone

人类的语言就显得独树一帜了，

这源于对语法和创造性的 强大组合能力，

due to the powerful combination of grammar and productivity,

和领先的分离性和时空性。

on top of discreteness and displacement.

The human brain can take a finite number of elements

人类的大脑能够利用有限的元素

and create an infinite number of messages.

创造无限量的信息。

We can craft and understand complex sentences,

我们能够加工和理解复杂的句式，

as well as words that have never been spoken before.

以及我们从没说过的词语。

我们能运用语言交流无限量的主题，

We can use language to communicate about an endless range of subjects,

talk about imaginary things,

讨论想象的事物，

and even lie.

甚至说谎。

Research continues to reveal more and more about animal communication.

研究还在不断揭露更多的 关于动物交流的信息。

It may turn out that human language and animal communication

或许能证明人类的语言和动物的交流

aren't entirely different but exist on a continuum.

并非完全不同， 而是存在于同一个交集区。

After all, we are all animals.

毕竟，我们都是动物。