Page 44 - The Miracle Of Talking Birds

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- He has functional use of “no,” phrases such as “Come here,”
“I want—,” and “Wanna go—” using appropriate names for objects
or locations.
- He has also acquired attributes. He can identify seven colors,
“rose” (red), blue, green, yellow, orange, grey, and purple.

- He can name five different shapes as two-, three-, four, five -,
or six-cornered objects. He uses “two,” “three,” “four,” “five,” and
“sih” (six) to distinguish quantities, including groups of unfamiliar
items, heterogeneous collections, and sets in which objects are ar-
rayed at random.
- Alex has a limited comprehension of “category.” He has
learned, for example, not only that “green” is one example of the
category “color,” but also that for a particularly colored and shaped

object, “green” and “three-corner” represent two of its different at-
tributes. Thus he categorizes such objects with respect to either at-
tribute based on our vocal query of “What color?” or “What shape?”