Editing Animal cognition (section)

=== Language ===
{{main|Animal language|Human-animal communication}}
{{further|Talking animal}}
The modeling of human language in animals is known as [[animal language]] research.  In addition to the ape-language experiments mentioned above, there have also been more or less successful attempts to teach language or language-like behavior to some non-primate species, including [[parrots]] and [[great spotted woodpecker]]s. Arguing from his own results with the animal [[Nim Chimpsky]] and his analysis of others results, Herbert Terrace criticized the idea that chimps can produce new sentences.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Terrace HS, Petitto LA, Sanders RJ, Bever TG | title = Can an ape create a sentence? | journal = Science | location = New York, N.Y. | volume = 206 | issue = 4421 | pages = 891–902 | date = November 1979 | pmid = 504995 | doi = 10.1126/science.504995 | bibcode = 1979Sci...206..891T}}</ref> Shortly thereafter [[Louis Herman]] published research on artificial language comprehension in the bottlenose dolphin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Herman |first1=L. M. |last2=Richards |first2=D. G. |last3=Wolz |first3=J. P. |date=1984 |title=Comprehension of sentences by bottlenosed dolphins. |url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-13754-001 |journal=Cognition|volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=129–219 |doi=10.1016/0010-0277(84)90003-9 |pmid=6540652|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Though this sort of research has been controversial, especially among [[cognitive linguistics|cognitive linguists]], many researchers agree that many animals can understand the meaning of individual words, and that some may understand simple sentences and syntactic variations. Elephants can remember tone, melody, and recognise more than 20 words.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lim |first=Teckwyn |url=https://www.editions.ird.fr/produit/696/9782709929943/composing-worlds-with-elephants |title=Composing Worlds with Elephants: Interdisciplinary Dialogues |publisher=IRD Éditions |year=2023 |isbn=978-2-7099-2993-6 |editor-last=Lainé |editor-first=De Nicolas |location=Marseille |pages=137–155 |chapter=From the mouth of the mahout: a review of elephant command words |editor-last2=Keil |editor-first2=P. G. |editor-last3=Khatijah Rahmat |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387795167}}</ref> Nevertheless, there is little evidence that any animal can produce new strings of symbols that correspond to new sentences.<ref name="Shettleworth" />