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Dolphin Signature Rhythms and the Non-Cacophonous Coyote: Rhythm, cognition and the animal umwelt

Dolphin Signature Rhythms and the Non-Cacophonous Coyote: Rhythm, cognition and the animal umwelt Sara Waller Dolphin Signature Rhythms and the Non-Cacophonous Coyote: Rhythm, cognition and the animal umwelt Merlin Donald claims that "Rhythm is a uniquely human attribute; no other creature spontaneously tracks and imitates rhythms in the way humans do, without training."(Donald 1991: 186). This paper marshals a defense of animal cognitive capacity for rhythm, especially as it manifests in communicative acts. The conclusions is that some animals, specifically, coyotes {cants latrans) and bottle- nose dolphins (tumops truncatus) do exhibit much of what Donald demands of naturally rhythmic creatures, and as such, they manif- est the precursors of more sophisticated conceptual-linguistic un- derstanding. Animal cognition is often considered to be fairly independent of signified meaning. That is, we often think about the animal umwelt in terms of 'non- conceptual cognition' and 'non-propositional content.' Bermudez (2003) suggests that thought and reasoning can occur without what we ordinarily think of as propositionally-based beliefs; Hauser (2000) offers the position that, if animals have beliefs at all, they neither understand that other animals have them nor have any insight into their own, and thus, their behaviors are not heavily based on propositional thought. Such non-verbal, asemiotic, uncategorized cognizing might still find itself exemplified in such http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Cognitive Semiotics de Gruyter

Dolphin Signature Rhythms and the Non-Cacophonous Coyote: Rhythm, cognition and the animal umwelt

Waller, Sara
Cognitive Semiotics , Volume 1 (s1): 9 – Sep 1, 2007
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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
© 2013 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.
ISSN
2235-2066
eISSN
2235-2066
DOI
10.1515/cogsem.2007.1.fall2007.102
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Sara Waller Dolphin Signature Rhythms and the Non-Cacophonous Coyote: Rhythm, cognition and the animal umwelt Merlin Donald claims that "Rhythm is a uniquely human attribute; no other creature spontaneously tracks and imitates rhythms in the way humans do, without training."(Donald 1991: 186). This paper marshals a defense of animal cognitive capacity for rhythm, especially as it manifests in communicative acts. The conclusions is that some animals, specifically, coyotes {cants latrans) and bottle- nose dolphins (tumops truncatus) do exhibit much of what Donald demands of naturally rhythmic creatures, and as such, they manif- est the precursors of more sophisticated conceptual-linguistic un- derstanding. Animal cognition is often considered to be fairly independent of signified meaning. That is, we often think about the animal umwelt in terms of 'non- conceptual cognition' and 'non-propositional content.' Bermudez (2003) suggests that thought and reasoning can occur without what we ordinarily think of as propositionally-based beliefs; Hauser (2000) offers the position that, if animals have beliefs at all, they neither understand that other animals have them nor have any insight into their own, and thus, their behaviors are not heavily based on propositional thought. Such non-verbal, asemiotic, uncategorized cognizing might still find itself exemplified in such

Journal

Cognitive Semiotics – de Gruyter

Published: Sep 1, 2007

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