Silence Of The Sheep Case Study

Silence of the Lambs: Sheep’s Inability to Speak
The human respiratory system is a very complex network of muscles, fibers, ligaments, and bones that help the body take in the oxygen it needs to survive, while providing the overlaid function of speech. The airways are first and foremost used for breathing and protection, but human beings have evolved to be able to produce speech as a tool for communication and, as far as science knows, humans are the only species to have accomplished this feat. Language is largely regarded as the crowning achievement that distinguishes humans from any other mammal. So what makes Homo sapiens different from every other organism on Earth? More specifically what stops an animal, such as a sheep, from talking?

Differences occur in the structure of both the upper and lower respiratory tracts, including the lungs, trachea, larynx, and nasal cavities. Humans and sheep have respiratory anatomy that is undeniably similar, yet a few key differences are what prevent sheep from evolving to the point of having full language abilities.
In describing the human respiratory anatomy, it is easiest to first break the system up into upper and lower tracts. The upper tract consist of the nose, nasal cavity, oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. In the upper tract, humans have lymphoid tissues, mucosal tissues, and tonsils. The lamina propria covers different pathways and makes up the mucous membranes. In the mucosa in the trachea, there are pseudostratified, ciliated epithelial cells that help push the mucous out (Fuller et al., 2012). The lower tract is comprised of the trachea, the lungs, and the bronchial tree. The lungs are encased in a double-layered membrane called the pleurae, which contains serous

Because no one has all the answers as to why man can talk, no one can conclude why animals cannot. The biggest component inhibiting animal speech is intelligence; their brains are not developed enough evolutionarily to be capable of this behavior. But aside from that, complications would arise in all other aspects of the speech mechanism, from the mouth to the throat, the ears and nasal passages, even the lungs. For sheep, one of the main factors to consider is their articulatory system. “Humans are able to imitate a wide range of noises: the ability relies on the engagement of the larynx to generate acoustic variation and to produce novel vocalizations. Such vocal plasticity is a key property of human speech” (Fedurek & Slocombe, 2011). Sheep do not possess the adequate mouth and facial muscles to make intelligible speech. This makes vocal plasticity, the ability to create new sounds, impossible; without this proponent speech will never be an option. Looking specifically at the laryngeal cavity could also explain sheep’s silence. As stated before, their larynx sits higher in their neck, as well as narrowing at the top and the creation of a longer supraglottic duct. These anatomical differences could play a key role in the absence of ovine speech. Human babies, in fact, have a higher location of their larynx and they are also unable to communicate orally, so this could impede