Student Resources

Video Links Chapter 4

The Mind: Animal Language

7:39

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-UsdATXqxU

“Documentary on how language emerged in animals through social behavior. Every language is species-specific (Wittgenstein's "lion language": language is meaning and meaning is use).”

Kanzi Understands Spoken Language

2:26

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxmbjLoUnhk

A short film featuring Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: “Kanzi's ability to understand spoken language can be seen in this video. He is asked to find the lexigrams, or symbols, for specific words.”

The Soul of My Culture

9:19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5rpg_kjLac

A film about the importance of language in Hawaiian identity, culture, and politics, with some interesting discussion of colonialism and language loss.

Click Language and the San Bushmen People

4:54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c246fZ-7z1w

“The Bushmen, San, Basarwa or Khwe are indigenous people of the Kalahari Desert. They were traditionally hunter-gatherers, part of the Khoisan group, and are related to the traditionally pastoral Khoikhoi. Their ‘click’ language is Khoisan.”

Samigiella, an Arctic Nature Language: The Sami Language

5:01

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkG7psgdl1o

Produced by Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (www. galdu.org), the film discusses Sami (a northern Scandinavian indigenous society) language and its historical relation to neighboring languages

Gestures across Cultures

9:07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxoB6MhmbIg&feature=related

A segment from a BBC documentary, the clip explores some differences in gesture and body language between cultures.