Amrit

Posted Monday, October 4, 2021

4y

INFP

Aries

The case for language in bigfoot in reference to foxp2

So the foxp2 gene was discovered in 2001 in a family where roughly half of its members exhibited a form of speech disability. This disibility was due to a disadvantageous mutation of the human foxp2 gene. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7023/) From this we discovered that the foxp2 gene was responsible for language and learning. (https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/FOXP2) We like to think of our version of foxp2 as being special, or unique in the animal kingdom. Though the structure is only minutely different from that of chimpanzee, it's that minute difference which allows us to speak a verbal language while they cannot. Here is a video link if you are wanting to learn a little more about that >> https://youtu.be/Bv7Z0WxQCEc In the Bigfoot community there is ongoing debate as to whether Bigfoot is a hominin, more man like, or a hominid, more ape like. The argument behind Bigfoot and speech is that if these animals do indeed possess a verbal language, then they must in fact be more closer to humans (some would argue a hybrid human) than other great apes. But what evidence do we have that bigfoot has a spoken language? In the 1970's, two Bigfoot investigators, Ron Morehead and Allan Berry would set out on a number of occasions high up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, California. It was there they recorded the famous Sierra Sounds. I want to take a quote from The Bigfoot Book, written by Nick Redfern and published in September of 2015, detailing how they acquired these sounds. "Berry and Morehead... decided to hang a microphone in a tree and then hook it up to a reel to reel recorder in their camp - which was about forty feet away- in the event that they might pick up something of interest." So here is a break down of that recording which I would urge you to watch >> https://youtu.be/AWXgYt9Pq8Q I have also attached a picture taken from Nick Redfern's book of the Sierra sounds quoting retired U.S. Navy crypto-linguist, R. Scott Nelson and his take of the recordings. If the recording is in fact syntactic language (In linguistics, syntax is the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a given language, usually including word order) then bigfoot must be human or most closely related to humans. But I'm not convinced. There are three things I want to bring up concerning verbal language. The first is the philosophy of language, in that if an unverified species "must be human" because it possesses syntactic language, than what should we think of a person who cannot develope a syntactic language? I want to share a video of such a person, a young girl who has what is called a foxp2 deletion. Despite not being able to communicate verbally, many, myself included, would still call her human. (https://youtu.be/Er7qnV0oQew) My second reason for Bigfoot possibly being a non-human species based on linguistics actually takes a dive into another direction, the speech of dolphins. There has been much study done on dolphins and language, and we have found cause to believe they may be able of syntactic language. Though it's still debated, we do know that dolphins do have some form or system of auditory communication and have specific names by which they call each other, just as we do. (https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/dolphin-language) If this does turn out to be the case, then we can no longer call language an exclusive human trait. My final thought is on known great apes and how well they can communicate with us. The following quotes are taken from a smithsonian article titled "Six Talking Apes" (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/six-talking-apes-48085302/) "Viki, a chimpanzee, came closest to being a real talking ape. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Keith and Catherine Hayes of the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology, then located in Orange Park, Florida, adopted Viki and raised her at home as if she were a human baby. With the Hayeses moving her lips for her, Viki learned to utter "mama". Eventually, with much difficulty, she managed to say three other words—papa, cup and up—on her own." "In the 1960s, psychologists Allen and Beatrix Gardner of the University of Nevada, Reno recognized that chimpanzees naturally gesture a lot and thought chimps would be well suited for sign language. In 1966, they started working with Washoe. Later, psychologists Roger and Deborah Fouts, now retired from Central Washington University, continued the work. By the end of Washoe’s life in 2007, she knew about 250 signs and could put different signs together to make simple combinations like “Gimmie Sweet” and “You Me Go Out Hurry.” Washoe’s adopted son Loulis also learned to sign—by watching his mother. He was the first ape to learn signs from other apes, not humans." "Chimpanzees are not the only talking apes. In 1978, anthropologist Lyn Miles of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga began studying an orangutan named Chantek. During eight years of study, Chantek learned 150 signs. He also showed signs of being self-aware: he could recognize himself in a mirror." "Koko the gorilla is probably best known for her love of kittens and Mr. Rogers (and maybe less well-known for her encounter with Captain James T. Kirk). Koko’s sign-language training began in 1972 with then-graduate student Francine (Penny) Patterson of Stanford University. According to the Gorilla Foundation, Koko knows 1,000 signs and understands spoken English. It also claims the gorilla has an IQ somewhere between 70 and 95" Though the feats of Koko, Chantek, Washoe and Viki are impressive, they still lack the ability to use Syntax. However, this changed with the study of a bonobo named Kanzi. "Kanzi, a bonobo, doesn’t use sign language; he uses different combinations of lexigrams, or symbols, to communicate. In the early 1980s, psychologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, then of Georgia State University, was trying to teach Kanzi’s mom, Matata, to use the lexigrams; instead, Kanzi was the one who mastered the symbols. Kanzi understands spoken English and knows close to 400 symbols. When he “speaks,” his lexigram usage follows rules of grammar and syntax, according to researchers at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa, where Kanzi now resides." So here we have a non-human primate which understands syntax and grammar, but lacks the necessary foxp2 mutation we see in humans to allow for verbal communication. If the foxp2 gene were to undergo advantageous mutations in primates like Kanzi, then it's possible we could one day have a spoken conversation with an ape, although this process would likely take thousands, if not millions of years. But imagine this, if a non-human primate millions of years ago acquired such a mutation of foxp2, then surely by today we would have a species not only capable of verbal language, but highly proficient at communicating that language.