Research project
So "pirate birdy" has now been named "tibbit", in honor of killermeteor's first cat who died...or something of that nature...
Tibbit is coming along nicely. He viciously bites anyone who dares to enter his cage. He's a little gentler with me, because I have blonde hair (well, let's get technical: white) and he's scared of anyone with any darker color than blonde. Must have something to do with an association of losing his eye to a vet (yes, who saved his life, but Tibbit doesn't see it that way, no pun intended) who had darker-colored hair...just a guess.
He is playful and active, and loving, once he's out of the cage. He's definitely decided that I am his person of attention.
Anyway, on to the real meat:
I've decided that, as a linguist, I shall conduct a long-term experience with Tibbit. Dr. Pepperberg, a renouned bird researcher, has finally proven that her African Grey, Alex, is able to recombine words into meaningful sentences rather than just repeating what he hears. This is phenomenal, because this is a quality which has thusfar been proven to be unique to homosapiens, and the infinite combination attributable only to humans... or so they think. I think not.
Now, with Tibbit, I want prove that the same concepts that apply to childhood language development also apply to him. I speak only French to Tibbit, and consistently. When I tell him to "come here", "step up", "here's your food" "do you want some of this (to eat)?" "don't bite!" or "stop it!" or other things you'd say to a parrot, I rephrase those into meaningful French phrases. Once he learns those, I am going to see if he:
1. repeats them
2. uses them (eg: Our quaker parrot will tell the other birds to "step up" when they are presented with a hand, before we can!)
3. whether Tibbit learns English words by hearing them used with the other birds
4. whether he encounters confusion or a mix of the two languages when talking
5. Whether his language skills are delayed as a result of bilingualism, as they would be for a human child.
mostly, I'm just curious to see what happens.
If all of this goes well, I plan to try to get a research grant for a honors thesis on the subject, either from linguistics, or from the zoology division of the science departments.
Keep it tuned here for updates.
Now that my tea break is over, it's back to work for me...
~A
Tibbit is coming along nicely. He viciously bites anyone who dares to enter his cage. He's a little gentler with me, because I have blonde hair (well, let's get technical: white) and he's scared of anyone with any darker color than blonde. Must have something to do with an association of losing his eye to a vet (yes, who saved his life, but Tibbit doesn't see it that way, no pun intended) who had darker-colored hair...just a guess.
He is playful and active, and loving, once he's out of the cage. He's definitely decided that I am his person of attention.
Anyway, on to the real meat:
I've decided that, as a linguist, I shall conduct a long-term experience with Tibbit. Dr. Pepperberg, a renouned bird researcher, has finally proven that her African Grey, Alex, is able to recombine words into meaningful sentences rather than just repeating what he hears. This is phenomenal, because this is a quality which has thusfar been proven to be unique to homosapiens, and the infinite combination attributable only to humans... or so they think. I think not.
Now, with Tibbit, I want prove that the same concepts that apply to childhood language development also apply to him. I speak only French to Tibbit, and consistently. When I tell him to "come here", "step up", "here's your food" "do you want some of this (to eat)?" "don't bite!" or "stop it!" or other things you'd say to a parrot, I rephrase those into meaningful French phrases. Once he learns those, I am going to see if he:
1. repeats them
2. uses them (eg: Our quaker parrot will tell the other birds to "step up" when they are presented with a hand, before we can!)
3. whether Tibbit learns English words by hearing them used with the other birds
4. whether he encounters confusion or a mix of the two languages when talking
5. Whether his language skills are delayed as a result of bilingualism, as they would be for a human child.
mostly, I'm just curious to see what happens.
If all of this goes well, I plan to try to get a research grant for a honors thesis on the subject, either from linguistics, or from the zoology division of the science departments.
Keep it tuned here for updates.
Now that my tea break is over, it's back to work for me...
~A