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Umwelt and Ape Language Experiments: on the Role of Iconicity in the Human-Ape Pidgin Language

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Abstract

Several language experiments have been carried out on apes and other animals aiming to narrow down the presumed qualitative gap that separates humans from other animals. These experiments, however, have been driven by the understanding of language as a purely symbolic sign system, often connected to a profound disinterest for language use in real situations and a propensity to perceive grammatical and syntactic information as the only fundamental aspects of human language. For these reasons, the language taught to apes tends to discard iconic and indexical elements in favour of symbolic signs. This paper sheds light on the iconic components of human language, with close attention to the iconic properties of language as present in the ape language experiments. We emphasise the role of the body in the interpretation and production of iconic signs, while demonstrating the need to take into account the Umwelt theory in the research paradigm of the experiments. Uexküll’s Umwelt theory is used to exemplify the methodological problems connected to the teaching of human language to other animal species; furthermore, we discuss how the modelling capacities of language affect the biological layer that constitutes the animal Umwelt. Language is analysed as a particular case of Umwelt transition (Tønnessen), and as such its implications are further discussed in the article. With this paper, we enrich the discussion surrounding the human-ape pidgin language by advocating for the need to include iconic components as vital parts of this research area. With this inclusion, we uncover the inter-dependency of iconic, indexical and symbolic signs in human language, aiming to further develop the research paradigm of the ape language experiments.

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Notes

  1. According to Chomsky human languages share some fundamental similarities, even if they appear very different on the surface. Chomsky gives these “properties” a universal nature, since he claimed that that these are attributable to innate principles unique to human language (Chomsky 2000).

  2. The word “bang” /'bæŋ/, for example, is commonly used in English to describe a loud, sudden and explosive noise and finds its origin at an iconic level, as an imitation of the sound made by a crashing object. The word perfectly captures the sudden and explosive sound thanks to the combination of the voiced bilabial stop [b], the near-open front unrounded vowel [æ] which provides a very loud note and the velar nasal sound [ŋ], the latter functioning as a muffled dying-sound after the loud crash of the first sounds.

  3. According to Dingemanse (2011: 25), ideophones are marked words that depict sensory imagery. Ideophones are often ignored because they are more common, and thus more difficult to leave out of account, in non-western languages such as Japanese (see Ahlner and Zlatev 2010).

  4. These populations believe that dogs can be brought closer to human consciousness when prescribed certain drugs. After drugging their dogs, they shut their mouths close and instruct them on how to behave.

  5. “Motherese” can be defined as a simplified language register used by carers, especially mothers, in speaking to babies and young children. It is characterized by repetitions, simpler sentence structure, limited vocabulary, onomatopoeia, and expressive intonation (Toda et al. 1990: 281).

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    Mirko Cerrone

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Cerrone, M. Umwelt and Ape Language Experiments: on the Role of Iconicity in the Human-Ape Pidgin Language. Biosemiotics 11, 41–63 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-018-9312-4

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