Dissertativa 22 - Português e Inglês - IME 2004

O texto abaixo apresenta cinco frases excedentes. Essas frases foram inseridas ao corpo do texto mas não pertencem a ele. Leia o texto abaixo e transcreva para o caderno de soluções as cinco frases que foram introduzidas posteriormente e que não pertencem ao contexto.

Can parrots communicate?

Everyone knows that parrots can imitate human speech, but can these birds also understand meaning? Two decades ago, researcher Irene Pepperberg started working with Alex, an African gray parrot, and ever since then, she has been building up data on him. In their life cycle, communication is very important, for only through the exchange of sounds do peacocks and turkeys know where to meet and when to mate. Pepperberg, whose recently published book The Alex Studies makes fascinating reading, claims Alex doesn’t copy speech but intentionally uses words to get what it is that he wants. The author of the book appears to believe that control of the brain activity will require the invention of new technologies.

In actual fact, some of his cognitive skills are identical to those of a five-year-old child. Like a child’s, Alex’s learning has been a steady progression. A blind baby is doubly handicapped. Early on, he could vocalize whether two things were the same or different. Now, he carries out more complex tasks. Not only it is unable to see, but because it cannot receive the visual stimulus from its environment that a sighted child does, it is likely to be slow in intellectual development. Presented with different-colored balls and blocks and asked the number of red blocks, he’ll answer correctly. He requests things as well. Should he ask to sit on your shoulder and you put him somewhere else, he’ll complain: ‘Wanna go shoulder.’ The phenomenon of language change probably attracts more public notice and more disapproval than any other linguistic issue.

A few experts remain skeptical, seeing very little in Alex’s performance beyond learning by association, by means of intensive training. Yet Alex appears to have mastered simple two-way communication. As parrots live for 60 years or more, Alex may surprise us further.