Talking animal

For talking animals in folklore and storytelling, see Talking animals in fiction.
"Talking Cat" redirects here. For the 2013 film, see A Talking Cat!?!

A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language.[1] Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal language, however, these usually are not considered a language because they lack one or more of the defining characteristics, e.g. grammar, syntax, recursion, and displacement. Researchers have been successful in teaching some animals to make gestures similar to sign language,[2][3] although whether this should be considered a language has been disputed.[4]

  1. ^ "Can any animals talk and use language like humans?". BBC. 16 February 2015.
  2. ^ Hillix, William A.; Rumbaugh, Duane M. (2004), "Washoe, the First Signing Chimpanzee", Animal Bodies, Human Minds: Ape, Dolphin, and Parrot Language Skills, Springer US, pp. 69–85, doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-4512-2_5, ISBN 978-1-4419-3400-0
  3. ^ Hu, Jane C. (Aug 20, 2014). "What Do Talking Apes Really Tell Us?". Slate. Retrieved Jan 19, 2020.
  4. ^ Terrace, Herbert S. (December 1982). "Why Koko Can't Talk". The Sciences. 22 (9): 8–10. doi:10.1002/j.2326-1951.1982.tb02120.x. ISSN 0036-861X.