Can Bigfoot speak?

I have recently heard several field researchers attest to hearing speech or speech-like sounds made by Bigfoot. Rather than dismiss this out of hand, I decided to look into the possibility for speech.
First prerequisite or speech is bipedalism: Walking uprightly allows us the ability to control our exhalations and produce speech. The mechanics are explained nicely in this article: www.sciencedaily.com...
Chimps lack the ability to manipulate their vocal chords to produce speech. Birds are also bipedal and they can talk. Some African Grey parrots have vocabularies in the hundreds of words. They seem to have good cognitive skills too. If asked to pick out the red, round object on the table, they understand the request and bring the right article. Bigfoot researchers claim that they have hears human like speech and Indians claim that they have heard him talk and have talked to him. What do you think?

Native Americans often used bird imitations as communication. It is interesting that several Bigfoot researchers feel that they are being scammed by Bigfoot imitating birds – owls in particular. This show was live in the field and had a number of bird calls that are suspicious. www.blogtalkradio.com... episode:
Whathahellwasthat? Live From The Field In Oklahoma. Honestly, I am not so good at bird calls. I can’t vouch for this.
If you are interested in Indian lore about Bigfoot listen to this audio file: www.blogtalkradio.com...
Look for Kathy Strain. She is a US forest service archeologist and Bigfoot researcher. The program is worth downloading.
PS I am a newbie, I don’t know how to link this yet, so I just offer the site.

Welcome to ATS Zachi! I must've missed your introductory thread so let me welcome you now.

I'm not so certain that monkeys cannot "speak". I think they lack the vocal cords to verbalize human speach, but they seem to have communication skills that are verbal.

I've always wondered if bigfoot was a dead-end branch of evolution that hadn't quite died out yet -- maybe Australopithicus Afarensis or perhaps Robustus. If that were true, they should have the ability to vocalize, as well as a fairly big brain, which might tend toward mimicking familiar sounds.

If they exist (and I believe they do), they are probably very intelligent, being able to evade capture thus far. They might even bury or otherwise hide their dead, who knows? I think it would be absolutely fascinating if we found out that they are a social creature with communities and hierarchy -- raising their young........... perhaps they even have their own mythology.

There has been a suggestion at times that bigfoot is a lost alien species. I suppose that's possible, but I choose to believe that they are a branch-off of the early simians -- a distant homo sapiens cousin.

Good thread!

reply to post by zachi


G'day mate, welcome to ATS (I missed your intro post!).

It's an interesting question, obviously assuming that BF exists, then we have to consider if it has the brain power and/or physiology for speech.

I mean it's pretty certain it could make noises, growls, grunts, whatever, but does it have the intelligence that would support actual speech?

Tricky, my bet is that a bigfoot could make all the necessary noise, perhaps repeat (with some training) our language, but it wouldn't comprehend what it means as we do.

It may be able to associate certain words with object, like saying "ball" gets him a ball. but I doubt it would be aware of anything more than that.

Although who knows, I'll be interested to see what others have to say!

All the best, kiwifoot(distant relative of the bigfoot!)

Even if it's only as intelligent as a gorilla, it could be taught to use sign language.
Most likely it'd have some sort of way of communicating with others of it's species.

____________________
Apparently it can speak-

Interesting but why is bi-pedalism considered a pre-requisite to speech?
Dolphins and elephants have language I even found an Ats article about the dolphins here www.abovetopsecret.com...

and one about elephants here biology.suite101.com...


As you can see having two legs is not required for language skills.

Now I have listened to those big foot ...yowls? Is that what you would call them? They are eerie. Maybe one day we will see one in the wild talking. With everyone having cell phone cameras these day I am fairly confident it will happen sooner rather than later.

Yes, but he sounds exactly like Joe Lieberman.
Sorry, I could resist a little anthropological humor.

reply to post by Flakey


Bipeladism is needed to support breath control. We can speak only because we can conrtol the movement of air over the vocal chords. Quadrapeds don't have that ability. Dolphin language is a series of clickes and elephants communicate with low frequency. But speech is more than communication. If you study language acquisition, you will notice that experts really don't know how or what language ability is or where it comes from.

reply to post by RuneSpider


I have seen some of the video of signing primates. I really don't think they have language ability. Language involves having a set syntax. Even though some primates have mastered some signs that bring set results, that isn't language. If my gunea pig wants some lettuce, he whistles at me, but that's not langugage it's learned behavior (him or me, I'm not sure) Using bird calls as a signal between group members requires a near human level of intelligence and some language skill between members.

reply to post by zachi


Quadrupeds DO have breath control. It is not something limited to the Bipedal. Dolphins speak via whistle click. They name themselves , what they eat, what they enjoy, and what they do not enjoy. Cracking the language barrier of dolphins is a very interesting subject. YOU should click on that link above if you have THINK anything of it.

Also I have seen other animals "Parrot". You should do a youtube search for talking dogs.


As for the study of language? I enjoy the study of psycholinguistics and practical application. Language is also not confined to speech. If it were the deaf would be in much worse shape. The ability to convey commonly understood and shared with others outside of yourself extends past speech. Written words, body movements, involuntary body emissions , all can convey a level of communication. Even emoticons

Don't believe everything a PHD certified scientist has to say. PHD certified scientists claimed Global warming was real too. Sometimes a PHD will write a bogus review if it means they get another grant.

Yes a guy in a suit can make speech like sounds.

Myself and members of my family have heard the same sounds as in the Samurai Chatter vocalisations I have linked to here. We just thought someone was walking down the road in the middle of the night muttering to themselves, though that was unlikely as we lived in the middle of nowhere. It was like being able to hear someone talking, but not being close enough to make out what's being said.

When I found these recordings courtesy of www.bfro.net Bigfoot Research Organisation and I played it for my family they all agreed that this is what they had heard.

www.bfro.net...

Well Chimp's can speak. There was one that they had taught 65 words. They were like Mama, papa...etc but it did speak.

Maybe as we teach them their children will get better and maybe we will have a hand at evolution...

Seriously though, of course they can speak, they are 99% us. They would be able to speak fine, but have not developed that mechanism. They have the vocal chords and same breathing system as us, they just lack the same size of brain we do. So they could probably have some sort of language (loosely) but nothing compared to ours.

I'll try and find a link for the talking chimp, but I think it was in the 70's.

reply to post by zachi
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Well this Bigfoot cant

[edit on 30-12-2009 by Gloster]

reply to post by Signals


Really neat video clip. I like the "Messin with Susquatch" series.

reply to post by predator0187


I have to disagree a bit, they are different enough physically that they can't produce running speech.
www.scientificamerican.com...
I also read a study that seemed to indicate they don't have the ability to remember sound sequences. Some think that it is a genetic difference. www.physorg.com...
Scientist are starting to unravel they mysteries of DNA. All that "Junk" DNA is really the operating system that our porgram DNA runs on.

reply to post by Flakey


Communication does come in different forms. Since you mentioned the Deaf, let me use it to llustrate something. ASL is a recongized language. It is processed in the same area of the brain as any spoken language. ASL had syntax (topic, comment) It is campable of expanding to incluse new concepts: (computer, playstation, etc.) It can be used to express abstract ideas.
If a deaf person grows up in a hearing family, without any exposure to sign language, they learn pantomime and "home" signs. They can only be understood by family members and close friends. This person would have Minimal Language Skills. This person would have a difficult time learning ASL or any sturctured lanugage after about 5 years of age.
The type and level of communcation that people have attested to is of a much higher order than MLS. Even the BFRO audio sounds like more that MLS communication.
I did try to follow the link and listen to the dolphin communcation, but that link is down. I did read some of the articels on the post. I gree that they may have developed a language based on clicks and whistles, but they do not produce speech such as we do.

Heres another 2 links to the Sierra Tapes... always meant to buy me a copy of it. Its interesting stuff, and supposedly tested to be genuine, or at the least made by an unknown animal without any mechanical tampering.

Bigfoot Recording (BFRO)

Sierra Sounds

Theres been quite alot of old and new cases where Whistling and log/rock banging has been heard as a form of communication between individual Bigfoots, its also been witnessed on occasions to be used to co-ordinate Bigfoot deer stalking/hunting.

If I could remember which case it was that first sort of made light to it id link it, since it was also one of the first cases where the person investigating it realized the Bigfoot were actually hunting deer for their livers, since back then it was still taken that Bigfoot was a vegetarian for the most part. Its one of the BFRO cases, but it was a good 10+ years back and their database is to big for me to remember which one these days

I guess its up to how you define 'speaking'... most animals have some ability to recognize various sounds as linked to an idea, all my cats do and they have quite a repertoire of sounds they use for all sorts of human/cat /cat/cat interaction.

If they have ,then a large simian with potential tool working hands like our own should have the brain to easily develop at least a decent language, if if a simple one.

So yeah to me they can speak... problem is, sightings are rare, and a sighting where one would want to make a noise and give away its presence to a group of humans would be even rarer... so we wont know until we can get a proper population to study.

Thats the real kicker.

[edit on 31-12-2009 by BigfootNZ]

Originally posted by zachi
reply to post by predator0187

 

I have to disagree a bit, they are different enough physically that they can't produce running speech.
www.scientificamerican.com...
I also read a study that seemed to indicate they don't have the ability to remember sound sequences. Some think that it is a genetic difference. www.physorg.com...
Scientist are starting to unravel they mysteries of DNA. All that "Junk" DNA is really the operating system that our porgram DNA runs on.

No, I agree with you, I do not think they would ever be able to have a real conversation. I think language is the wrong word for them, more like speech.

www.abc.net.au...

Not sure why 2003 because the amount the has been revealed since them in astounding. We (all animals) have the FOXP2 gene which is linked to language, even mice have it. But as you have just said we are working on the "dark matter" of DNA seeing we only know about 2% of it. I think everything is there, there are just parts of their DNA that are not turned "on."

Nice links!! I read the second one, and again that is reference to language. I agree with you in that I don't think language is right but they can speak, I can remember which book...hmm...either "the ancestors tale" by Dawkins or "the language instinct" by Steven Pinker.

I think as time progresses we will learn how similar everything is. Maybe we will eventually be able to turn on the language of chimps. It would be interesting...

Yes it can speak and has had conversations with people.
The original bigfoot is Cain from the bible. His mark given to him from God was the hair all over his body and he would wander the Earth for eternity.
I will find the link in a few...

here is one:
www.lds.net...

and another one:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Here is an excerpt from the book:

On the sad character Cain, an interesting story comes to us from Lycurgus A. Wilson’s book on the life of David W. Patten. From the book I quote an extract from a letter by Abraham O. Smoot giving his recollection of David Patten’s account of meeting “a very remarkable person who had represented himself as being Cain.’

‘As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very strange personage walking beside me… His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle. He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark. I asked him where he dwelt and he replied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, that he had earnestly sought death during his sojourn upon the earth, but that he could not die, and his mission was to destroy the souls of men. About the time he expressed himself thus, I rebuked him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of the holy priesthood, and commanded him to go hence, and he immediately departed out of my sight…” (Miracle of Forgiveness, Spencer W. Kimball, pg 127, 1969)

[edit on 31-12-2009 by joey_hv]