Ability Quote by Jeff Stilson

I had a linguistics professor who said that it's man's ability to use language that makes him the dominant species on the planet. That…

— Jeff Stilson

Human language appears to be a unique phenomenon, without significant analogue in the animal world.

— Noam Chomsky

It's perfectly obvious that there is some genetic factor that distinguishes humans from other animals and that it is language-specific. The theory of that…

— Noam Chomsky

I never thought of that one, that linguistics could be driving cultural things. There are some thoughts that that does happen in humans, that…

— Hal Whitehead

We are a unique ape. We have language. Other animals have systems of communication that fall far short of that. They don't have the…

— Richard Dawkins

I think the one thing humans are is language wizards.

— Howard Rheingold

If language naturally evolves to serve the needs of tiny rodents with tiny rodent brains, then what's unique about language isn't the brilliant humans…

— Temple Grandin

Why is there such a gap between nonspeaking animals and speaking man, when there is no other such gap in nature?

— Walker Percy

To understand animal thinking you've got to get away from a language.

— Temple Grandin

The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand.

— Lewis Thomas

“Because we tend to equate intelligence with language--particularly the ability to use language to think and communicate abstractions--it is natural to conclude that animals…

— Linda Bender

It is not speech or tool making that distinguishes us from other animals, it is imagination....Of what use are speech sounds and tools without…

— Louise J. Kaplan