Monkeys With Syntax 197
jamie writes "The Campbell's monkey has a vocabulary with at least six types of basic call, but new research published in the PNAS claims that they combine them and string them together to communicate new meanings. (Login may be required on the NY Times site.) For example, the word for 'leopard' gets an '-oo' suffix to mean 'unseen predator.' But when that word is repeated after 'come over here,' the combination means 'Timber!' — a warning of falling trees. Scientists have known for some time that vervet monkeys have different warning calls for different predators — eagle, leopard, and snake — but unlike the Campbell's monkeys, vervets don't combine those calls to create new meanings, a key component of syntax. The researchers plan to play back recordings to the monkeys to test their theories for syntax errors."
It was the blurst of times. (Score:4, Funny)
FP!
Monkey syntax errors aren't so bad (Score:5, Funny)
But when they throw "exceptions", look out!
Re:Monkey syntax errors aren't so bad (Score:2, Funny)
Re:It was the blurst of times. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Monkey syntax errors aren't so bad (Score:5, Funny)
Monkey version of Timber (Score:5, Funny)
PNAS (Score:5, Funny)
You are hereby notified (Score:5, Funny)
The monkeys' lawyers just served papers on the researchers for copyright violations and the making of unauthorized reproductions of the primates' intellectual property. Spokesape Lance Link said "The researchers have submitted my clients' calls to several funding agencies. This is clearly intent to distribute my clients' intellectual properties, and we will therefore be seeking compensatory and punitive damages of one billion bananas for each call infringed upon."
Re:It was the blurst of times. (Score:4, Funny)
It's already better than Reality TV.
Re:Monkey syntax errors aren't so bad (Score:2, Funny)
Nobody will catch it. It'll just lead to a gigantic core dump.
Re:It was the blurst of times. (Score:4, Funny)
On another note, the scientists have confirmed that they can pronounce the words "internet" and "nuclear" correctly.
Careful (Score:5, Funny)
Violate Strunk and White just once and they'll fling shit at you.
Re:Syntax errors? (Score:2, Funny)
No, as is already clear to users of superior text editors, vi & vim, Emacs is always in monkey mode.
Ok, and then we can... (Score:5, Funny)
The researchers plan to play back recordings to the monkeys to test their theories for syntax errors.
Create a very long string of recordings of unrelated calls and play them back to check for buffer overflow errors...
Re:This is what linguists have been waiting for (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, that's my luggage combination!
Vicious circle (Score:3, Funny)
That's how it began!
Re:Monkey version of Timber (Score:5, Funny)
"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for Texas"
Measurable results (Score:3, Funny)
I guess they'll know they had a "syntax error" if the monkey fails to understand the warning and gets killed by the falling tree.
Re:I second that... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Monkey syntax errors aren't so bad (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Monkeys with syntax (Score:5, Funny)
Monkey see, Monkey dupe?
Re:Ok, and then we can... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:This is what linguists have been waiting for (Score:3, Funny)
Yet you keep using the same one.
Re:It was the blurst of times. (Score:4, Funny)
that's nice, you would expect a scientist to be able to pronounce "internet" and "nuclear" correctly.