Wednesday 28 July 1999

Perhaps you first thought, like I did, "Oh no! More talking apes! Why can't they teach some beach apes to shut up instead?" But then I remembered my uncle.

Back on the farm I lived with my three brothers and two parents and two grandparents and one uncle. Who is sort of easy to forget, since he did not speak. At all. In fact, he seemed to be as incapable of speech as any animal. I was seriously freaked out. It was as if he was there and wasn't there at all. As if he did not really exist, although he physically lived just a few meters from my room. Now, this guy was my uncle - no doubt about that, he looked like a time-delayed twin of my grandfather. And my feelings towards him can best be described as phobia. Of course, it probably helped that my elder brothers scared me with him when I was very small.

Have you reflected on how essential speech is to us humans? For most of my life, I just assumed that we can talk and the animals can not, because we are orders of magnitude more intelligent. But that just isn't it, though we certainly are smarter than the average bear. Then again, a grown-up with the mind of a two year old would not survive for long in the wilderness; and a two year old already talks quite a bit. The bears - and the apes - have their own instincts. And we have ours; speaking is one. The actual words are not instinctive, of course, but the basic grammar seems to be.

Bear with me here, folks. If some children never talk, is it necessarily because they are incredibly dumb? Or could it be sometimes that they just lack the instinct for speech? A powerful instinct it is: Even in fairly dysfunctional families, toddlers will still manage to achieve pretty fluent speech. Children of deaf parents will pick up sign language AND at the same time pick up oral language from other kids in the neighborhood. In ethnic mixed areas, toddlers routinely learn two languages, sometimes more. But without this instinct, without the powerful drive, the hunger for language ... how many of us would have learned to talk at all?

I appreciate the hard work that has gone into enabling chimps to converse casually about their bananas. But before we go on and let them elect their own representative to UN, I wonder if any of this new knowledge could be useful for some of those who, like my uncle, never learned to speak in the natural way? It's a bit late for him now, and for those who have fought for his human rights. But there will always be others. Or at least until we can buy frozen mass-produced kids in the drugstore. With a full money-back guarantee.

For a very different view on this matter, you may want to read the online journal of SF writer Al Schroeder. He has two sons who cannot speak either. Read about their adventures in NOVA NOTES.

Fluffy news: I went into Telehuset (a computer and communications chain) to buy a new monitor. You know, to replace the ten year old small one that only show two primary colors etc. Spent most of my lunch break there, then went back to work when nobody had time to sell me anything. Perhaps I should try another shop next time. :)