Q14 - Professor: Members of most species

[martinez.dennise]

I'm having trouble arriving at the correct answer. Any help?

[demetri.blaisdell]

Thanks for your question, martinez.dennise. This is a tough little problem. This is an identify the disagreement question. Our mindset should be to look at each answer choice and think: "is the professor committed to having an opinion about this? Is the student?" Most wrong answers will be half scope (one has an opinion but the other doesn't). I'll put them each in my own words:

Professor: There's communication between members of most species but only some have language. Humans have language. Without it, we wouldn't be humans.

Student: I agree that communication is not always language. But why don't you think dolphins and apes don't have language?

The student has assumed that because the professor doesn't think all animal communication is language, the professor thinks that only human communication is language.

(D) says exactly this. If humans don't share the ability to use language with any other animal, they are the only ones who have it.

Wrong answers:

(A) is too general. Neither of them has expressed an opinion about "defining traits" in general. They are only talking about communication.

(B) is out of scope. The two of them are talking about language and communication. They don't have an opinion about the other human traits (self-awareness, tool use, walking upright, etc).

(C) is misquoting the professor. He says that "not all communication is language" not that "not all language is communication." I think it's pretty safe to say that all language involves communication.

(E) is out of scope. Both the student and the professor are talking about communicating with members of the same species. Nobody is discussing communicating with members of different species.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Demetri