1. Choose the synonyms according to the context.

1. Damage a) an illuminating device

2. A flashlight b) a storm with violent wind

3. A shelter c) loss of what is desirable

4. A hurricane d) to announce

5. To originate e) a thing serving as barrier

6. To issue f) to cause to begin

2. Complete the following sentences.

1. Hurricanes are severe storms that … .

2. While the hurricanes form … .

3. Those who hunt for hurricanes … .

4. The issued hurricane warning may make people … .

5. Hurricanes travelling over land … .

3. Join two sentences using connectives.

1. Hurricanes are violent storms. They may take many lives.

2. Hurricane hunters fly out to the storm. They want to measure its size and intensity.

3. Human lives are lost. The eye of the hurricane arrives.

4. The forecasters issue a hurricane warning. The probable point of landfall is clear.

5. The people are warned of a coming hurricane. They try to consume nonperishable foods, use radio batteries and candles.

6. Eventually hurricanes move toward the north. Soon after they are not hurricanes anymore.

4. Put the jumbled sentences in the logical order.

1. Hurricane hunters estimate the size and intensity of the hurricane.

2. The more northwards hurricane moves the less violent it becomes.

3. Hurricanes usually originate over the Atlantic Ocean.

4. Being aware of the storm people hurricane-proof their houses, stock up on nonperishable food, radio batteries.

5. People sometimes are misled by the eye of the storm and leaving their shelter they lose their lives.

Part 4 unit XXXI

Is Language Unique to Humans?

According to Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh at Georgia State University, humans are not the only species capable of language. She carried out an extensive training and testing programme with a bonobo chimpanzee called Kanzi, who, by the age of six, had mastered a vocabulary of 200 words along with a series of meaningful gestures. (Since chimpanzees, like all primates, lack vocal chords, Kanzi was taught to use a keyboard and press symbols as a means of communicating.) The testing also involved commands being given by hidden speakers, so the research team could affirm that Kanzi was not just responding to contextual cues. It was reported that Kanzi responded accurately to 74 per cent of the complex questions that were put to him.

However, there are many who are far from convinced by this research. Among them is linguist Noam Chomsky who believes that only humans possess the innate cognitive ability to both comprehend and produce language. He compares human children with apes: the former learn to speak rapidly and can produce original sentences, but the primates find even the learning of a few words extremely challenging. Furthermore, Chomsky states that the ability to use individual symbols does not equate to the ability to recognize syntax. Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker is also sceptical and believes that Kanzi has merely learnt to behave in a way that will earn him a reward. In another experiment with a chimp called Washoe, his trainers were convinced he was capable of using American Sign Language. But Pinker points lo the fact that a deaf researcher who studied Washoe reported that the chimp was not using sign language, but actually his own set of gestures.

Post-reading tasks

Complete the sentences with words from the text. Write no more than two words for each answer.

1. Dr Savage-Rumbaugh claimed Kanzi used …, as well as vocabulary, to communicate.

2. Kanzi was given a keyboard to communicate with as chimpanzees do not possess … .

3. … were used to make sure Kanzi could understand language without the support of visual information.

4. According to Noam Chomsky, primates cannot understand and use language as they do not have naturally occurring … .

5. Chomsky believes that the use- of … is not evidence of understanding how language works.

6. Steven Pinker uses the observations of a … to discredit the idea of a chimp using sign language.