Saturday, January 22, 2011

Prairiedogese and Missing Words

It is Saturday morning and I am sitting in bed. Coffee. Breakfast. C.C. Newspaper. Ellie lies on her mat on the floor at the end of the bed, snuffling, stirring, sometimes grunting. It's a nice day. How about a walk?

At least, I imagine that's what her snuffles mean and, if I were Professor Con Slobodchikoff of Northern Arizona University I might spend the next 30 years studying a second lanuguage -- the language of Dogs. Or, as in Professor Slobodchikoff's case, Prairie Dogs -- a language he has studied for the past 30 years and found -- they really do speak in ideas and images. Capable of describing objects in their environment through color and height and... well, it's just all quite fascinating!

Check out Professor Slobodchikoff's findings in, New Language Discovered: Prairiedogese by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich NPR Radiolab (NPR -- National Public Radio)

And, because this is a place where writers often meet, I thought you might be fascinated by this article, also at NPR's Radiolab, on the possible predictive nature of writing and it's foreshadowing of Alzheimer's. Check out "Agatha Christie and Nun's Tell A Tale of Alzheimers." It's a tale of missing words and simple plot turned deadly. Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

4 comments:

Maureen said...

Krulwich also does the most interesting stories. Prairie dogs! They are not beloved out West, no matter how fascinating they are.

The Alzheimer's story is an interesting one, too.

Have a great weekend.

S. Etole said...

Intriguing thoughts and observations ...

Josie Two Shoes said...

The article on Agatha Christie fascinated me Louise! It also made me wonder what else could be learned about a writer if one had access to things they had written over a long span of years.

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing all these louise.

loved the info about prairie dogs.

have a beautiful week ahead.

Trisha
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