Talking Prairie Dogs: New Language Discovered

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the discovery of a new language among prairie dogs, focusing on their ability to communicate specific information about various entities and potentially create new terms for unfamiliar objects. The scope includes aspects of animal communication, linguistics, and the implications of these findings.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express amazement at the prairie dogs' communication abilities, questioning if they have terms for hypothetical entities like gray aliens.
  • Others note that the examples provided in the source are limited to nouns and adjectives, raising the possibility that prairie dogs might also have verbs, such as commands.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally express curiosity about the prairie dogs' language, but there is no consensus on the extent of their vocabulary or the types of words they may possess.

Contextual Notes

The discussion does not resolve the nature of prairie dog communication, particularly regarding the presence of verbs or other parts of speech beyond those mentioned in the source.

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Prairie dogs, those little pups popping in and out of holes on vacant lots and rural rangeland, are talking up a storm.

They have different "words" for tall human in yellow shirt, short human in green shirt, coyote, deer, red-tailed hawk and many other creatures.

They can even coin new terms for things they've never seen before, independently coming up with the same calls or words, according to Con Slobodchikoff, a Northern Arizona University biology professor and prairie dog linguist. [continued]
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/12/04/news/wyoming/835f726da39128a787256f5f006be02d.txt
 
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Amazing! I wonder id they have a word for a gray alien :wink:
 
iansmith said:
Amazing! I wonder id they have a word for a gray alien :wink:

:smile: :smile: :smile: So it would seem!
 
The example words given in the link are nouns and adjectives. I wonder if the critters have verbs, such as "Run!"
 

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