"Alex and Me" ending chapters

The ending chapters of “Alex and Me” were very interesting. Alex became an extremely smart bird, and exceeded boundaries which were thought to be unattainable by “a bird brain”. I last left off talking about how Alex was learning labels of different objects.  Now, Alex could label an object by its proper label, as well as label it by color or shape. This form of cognition was thought only to be achieved by humans, but Alex surpassed yet another boundary.

                After years of training Alex was able to able to understand the concept of apologizing. This happened completely accidental. He was not trained to understand this concept. He learned it by listening to students in the lab. Often students would apologize for spilling something in the lab. Pepperberg states that Alex must have heard this and applied it to his new vocabulary. What I found very astonishing was that Alex, was not only able to produce the words “I’m sorry”, he actually understood what he was saying. Here is an example. Alex had knocked over a cup with coffee, and the cup broke into pieces. Pepperberg then looked down and saw Alex walking around in the coffee and broken glass.  Her first reaction was to yell at him because she was scared of him getting hurt. Immediately after her reaction Alex said “I’m sorry…I’m sorry” (Pepperberg 94). He realized that she was angry and kept apologizing. This meant that Alex understood the concept of apologizing, and was able to completely pronounce it, which was yet another boundary he was not supposed to accomplish.

                Alex’s training started to become extremely successful. Peperberg was trying to introduce a new label to Alex. It was an apple. Alex had already learned the label for both a banana and a cherry, and she pronounced the new label like usual for Alex, but he had no intention on learning this new label. Instead he gave the apple a label of his own. He called it “Banerry”.  Pepperberg tried correcting him but he refused, he stuck to his label. Pepperberg slowly pronounced the word apple for Alex, but in return Alex slow said “Ban-erry” (Pepperberg104). Pepperberg explained this label that Alex made up as his way of seeing an apple, he saw it as a giant cheery and it tasted somewhat like an apple, therefore he gave it the label “Banerry”. This achievement showed that Alex was actually comprehending language, and not just mimicking what he was being taught to say.

                Although I really enjoyed this book, I have a favorite moment. This was when Alex was learning phonemes. Pepperberg started by showing Alex letters that he already knew. She wanted him to pronounce only the sound, so that he could later realize that the same sound could be applied to make words using the same sound. She started with the letter s and he said “ssss”, which was correct. Alex wanted a nut, so he said “want a nut” (Pepperberg 178). Pepperberg wanted him to wait so she continued with the next sound, which was “shhhh”, and Alex again got it correct. Alex kept insisting on a nut, but Pepperberg wanted him to wait. Alex, being a smart bird said “want a nut. Nnn…uh…tuh” (Pepperberg 179). Alex sounded out all the phonemes in the word nut, showing that he had the ability to do so. I find this situation quite funny yet, I’m so astonished by it. A chimp was not able to understand this kind of cognition, yet “a bird brain” was able to do so all on his own.

Before I read this book I asked myself, out of all the animals Pepperberg could have chosen, why did she pick the grey parrot? Although I do not know the exact answer to this question, I think it may have been because she wanted to prove that a non-primate animal could accomplish things that only humans were supposed to do. The book ended with Alex’s death. He was found dead in his cage one morning in the lab. Alex did more than enough in his life time; he surpassed boundaries that were once thought only to be accomplished by humans. The only question I would have for Pepperberg is, Did any of the other parrots she was training ever get to the level of intelligence that Alex had?

I'll give you a hint,diamonds are on my christmas list!

“Everyone knows diamonds are hard and beautiful, but did you know a diamond could be the oldest material you might own? “The word “diamond” derived from the Greek word “adamo”, meaning to overcome or tame, and the word “adamas”, which was used by Greeks in reference to what was considered the hardest substance known to man. The two words combined, otherwise known as compounded, is a coinage.

Diamonds are beautiful, and because I really want a pair, I was curious about its origin. I learned that although diamonds are beautiful, the process of gathering them isn’t. Therefore, I wanted to know if this had any relationship with the origin of the word. Unfortunately, the harsh conditions of gathering this rock had nothing to do with the origin of the word. However, the structure of the rock was included when producing the word diamond. The rock is one of the strongest materials known to man, which is the definition of “adamas”, and the word “diamond” derived from the word “adamas”.

Did you know that, diamonds “were initially used for to engraving other gems like sapphire cameos, and for drilling holes in hard, stone beads. Romans believed that diamonds had the power to ward off evil and wore them as talismans. In cases like this, I wish we had access to a time machine. Not only would I have sophisticated jewelry, but I would have gotten  these diamonds basically for free, and free is always better.

Dear Lucy Linguistics

Dear Lucy Linguistics,

    I have read your letter, and I am pleased with your decision about looking into “Alex & Me”. I am an animal lover, and found this book quite interesting. For starters, “Alex & Me”, is a book about human-animal communications. It is a book about a bird, Alex, who learns human language through his trainer Irene Pepperberg, whom is also the author of this book.
    “Alex & Me”, starts off by giving Pepperbergs background information, and how she eventually came to own Alex. Pepperberg was a child whose parents were distant and didn’t show her much affection. On her fourth birthday her father gave her a parakeet, who became her companion. Along the years Pepperberg owned different birds, and considered herself a “bird person”. although chemistry was her first choice in career studies, Pepperberg found she had a new passion for researching about non human animals being able to learning human language.
    In this book Pepperberg talks about her struggles as a researcher; about how others would not take her seriously. This occurred in many different was. Some disregarded her work simply because they didn’t believe a non-primate animal would be able to accomplish learning human language. Others didn’t take her seriously because she had no published papers in the field of biology. However, Pepperberg was not discouraged, and continued training Alex.
    Alex was introduced to language by learning labels. For example he learned to pronounce and identify the labels “Key” and “paper”. he was able to identify what was a key and what was considered paper. After a year of training, Alex was actually able to label seven different objects, which was quite remarkable. “This kind of vocal cognitive ability had never before been demonstrated in nonhuman animals, not even chimpanzees” (Pepperberg66). The book takes you on a journey of Alex’s training, which is moving. The thought that no one believed Pepperberg could make such an accomplishment is astonishing.
    I enjoyed this book in so many different levels. The language that Alex was able to learn is very interesting, especially because the book takes you step by step through his training. My favorite part of the book was when Alex was able to pronounce and understand how to use the words “I love you”. Alex was able to show emotion in a language that we are able to understand. Because I have pets of my own, if my dog was able to tell me that he loved me, I would be ecstatic, but they cant exactly speak to us, so we only assume they love us because of  how we read their body language.
    The fact that Alex was able to learn human language, lets us know that we still have a lot to learn about language. Although the book is about a bird learning human language, it is relevant to the class. The book includes linguistic terms that could  be applied to the class. Its easier to understand these terms by reading them in a novel than by reading them in a text book, in a sense its more fun! I don’t want to spoil the book for you, so I think I’ll stop here. I hope this letter was persuasive enough to get you to read “Alex &Me”, I really enjoyed this book, and I hope that you do too.
Sincerely,
Denise Perez

"Alex and Me" summary

Alex started comprehending and understanding labels. When he was alone he would sometimes practice the name of a new label that was recently introduced to him. A few months into his training he was able to group things together by label. For example, he usually worked with labeling a silver key. Pepperberg and her assistant gave Alex a blue key, and asked him to identify it. Alex called it a key, meaning that he was able to notice a key is still a key, even if the color is different. “This kind of cognitive ability had  never before been demonstrated in nonhuman animals, not even chimpanzees. According to the book, after a year of training, Alex was able to label seven objects and was beginning to learn how to label colors. Alex’s training was progressing greatly. he was now able to communicate a sense of refusal when he didn’t want to do something. Ultimately Alex was able to pronounce and use the word “no” correctly.
    Although Pepperberg is accomplishing her goals of animal communication, she explains how hard it was for her to be taken seriously. in the world of research, “…published papers are the measure of worth…” (Pepperberg 79). This was something that Pepperberg lacked. she wrote an article for the American journal “Science” and the journal “Nature”, about Alex’s progress, and how a non mammalian animal has reached goals that not even a chimp has been able to do. Unfortunately both articles rejected her article.
    This did not discourage Pepperberg, she continued working on Alex’s training. Pepperbergs next step was for Alex to put together a few labels to make a phrase. They started by introducing a clothes pin as “peg wood”, which Alex had understood. Then they gave him a green clothes pin. Alex was able to respond “green wood peg wood”, which gave them the satisfaction that Alex understood. Pepperberg wrote about this accomplishment, along with other accomplishments Alex had reached, and was able to finally get approved for a grant to fund her research.
    Although this book is about Alex learning language, the author gives us definitions about linguistics, which are useful to class. Pepperberg introduces the “acoustic envelop” which is the sound shape of a word, and “Segmentation” which is the “…ability to take pieces of two phrases apart and reassemble them appropriately” (Pepperberg 84). By introducing these definitions I am better able to understand Alex’s training, as well as use the knowledge of these definitions in class.

"Alex and Me" summary

In the next portion of this book, Pepperberg begins to talk about her life story, and how she eventually ended up with Alex. She tells us that while she was growing up, her mother and father were hardly around. Her father would usually be working, and when he was home, he was usually working on his hobby, planting flowers. Her mother was cold and distant. Pepperberg states that this was because her mother had her at a young age, and in a sense it ruined her mothers life. On Pepperberg’s fourth birthday, her father gave her a parakeet, whom from then on became her companion. As Pepperberg became older, she grew an interest in science, chemistry to be exact. While in college, although she was doing remarkably in chemistry, she decided to make a career change and study biology. She became interested in human animal communications. She considered herself a bird person, and decided to do her research on birds. She went to a bird breeder for a grey parrot, specifically this breed because it was a breed of parrots, “…that learned most easily and was the clearest talker…(Pepperberg 55). At this breeder she got Alex, the bird she would base her research on.
    Pepperberg wanted to start introducing language to Alex by using labels. For example the first label she introduced to Alex was” paper”. this was because Alex loved to play with paper, and Pepperberg wanted the first label introduced to be associated with something Alex liked. This label was hard for Alex, “…because it is very hard to make a ‘puh’ sound if you don’t have lips” (Pepperberg 63). I completely forgot to mention that before Pepperberg was able to introduce a label to Alex, first she had to earn his trust in order to move forward.
    I made a connection with what I read in these sections, and with what we have been learning in class. When Pepperberg stated that paper was a difficult word for Alex to say, I remembered that “paper” is a bilabial. A bilabial is produced by using both the upper and lower lips, therefore it was hard for Alex to pronounce this sound.

"Alex and Me" summary

the first few chapters of "Alex and Me", haven't quite yet hit the topic of language. the book starts from the end, and makes its way to the beginning of the story. so far in the story, we have learned that Irene Pepperberg, which is also the author of this book, is a scientist who is grieving from the lost of her bird, a grey parrot, whom she considers to be her colleague. the bird's name is Alex. Alex wasn't a regular parrot, he was a parrot that Irene had been using to express that human language could be understood by non-primate animals. since the book opens up with the death of Alex, there are people all over the country who have sent Irene emails and letters sending their condolences. one of the letters was actually from the owners of Washoe, who was the chimp we learned about in chapter two of Yule. some people had wrote letters saying that the miracle of Alex, a parrot who understood and spoke human language, helped  them over come their own obstacles. after Alex died, many magazines and new reports were done on the story of the parrot who understood language.

how to say my name

If a linguist would try to say my name, it would be easy for them, they would pronounce it like this [dɛnis]. often, when my name is read off a roster some people tend to pronounce it like [dɛnIs], which is completely wrong, this is a males name (denis). now if i were to show a non-linguist how to pronounce my name, i would tell them to put their tongue on their upper teeth and say "de" like you would for the word den. next, with their tongue in the same place, i would tell them to let out a nasal sound like "nnnn". finally they should say the letter "e" followed by an "ssss" sound. it would also be easy for them to understand how to say my name if they were to put the word "den" and "niece" together.