great ape language

Research into great ape language has shown that apes can communicate in a primitive way. Gorillas and chimpanzees have been taught sign language and can communicate with lexigrams (keyboards with symbols on them). However, it is disputed whether this phenomenon is truly language.

Questions in Animal Language Research

Animal language research attempts to answer the following questions:

What problems can animals solve without language, and can they solve them better after they have had language training?
Can the lessons learned in teaching animals be applied to human children?
How, and how much, do animals' abilities to learn language differ from those of humans?
Are the abilities that underlie language general or highly specialized?

Primate Use of Sign Language

Sign language and computer keyboards are used in primate language research because apes lack vocal cords and other human speech organs. However, apes do possess the manual dexterity required for keyboard operation. Many researchers into animal language have presented the results of the studies described below as evidence of linguistic abilities in animals. However, it is important to note that many of their conclusions have been disputed http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~mcnair/Teaching/3206-S2004/Animal_Communication.htm.

Kanzi

Kanzi, a bonobo chimpanzee, is believed to understand more human language than any other nonhuman animal in the world. Kanzi apparently learned by eavesdropping on the keyboard lessons researcher Sue Savage-Rumbaugh was giving to his adoptive mother. One day, Rumbaugh used the computer to say to Kanzi, "Can you make the dog bite the snake?" It is believed Kanzi had never heard this sentence before. In answering the question, Kanzi searched among the objects present until he found a toy dog and a toy snake, put the snake in the dog's mouth, and used his thumb and finger to close the dog's mouth over the snake. In further testing beginning when he was 7 years old, Kanzi was asked more than 600 complex questions, responding correctly over 74% of the time.

Washoe

Washoe, a Common Chimpanzee, was caught in the wild in 1966. When she was about ten months old, she was received by the husband-and-wife research team of Beatrix T. and R. Allen Gardner http://www.friendsofwashoe.org/washoe_bio.shtml. Chimpanzees are completely dependent until two years of age and semi-dependent until the age of four. Full adult growth is reached between 12 and 16 years of age. So the Gardners received her at a good age for research into language development. The Gardners tried to make Washoe's environment as similar as possible to what a deaf human infant would experience. There was always a researcher or assistant in attendance during Washoe's waking hours. Every researcher communicated with Washoe by using American Sign Language, minimizing the use of the spoken voice. The researchers acted as friends and companions to Washoe, using various games to make the learning as exciting as possible. The Gardners used many different training methods:

Imitation: After Washoe had learned a couple of words, she started, like chimpanzees usually do, to imitate naturally. For example, when she entered the Gardners' bathroom, she spontaneously made the sign for "toothbrush," simply because she saw one.
Babbling: In this case, "babbling" does not mean vocal babbling. Instead, Washoe used untaught signs to express a desire. She used a begging gesture, which was not much different from the ASL signs "give me" and "come." (Human infants who are learning sign language often babble with their hands.)
Instrumental Conditioning: The researchers used instrumental conditioning strategies with Washoe. For example, they taught the word "more" by using tickling as a reward. This technique was later applied to a variety of relevant situations.

The results of the Gardners' efforts were as follows:

Vocabulary: When a sign was reported by three independent observers, it was added to a checklist. The sign had to occur in an appropriate context and without prompting. The checklist was used to record the frequency of a sign. A sign had to be used at least once a day for 15 consecutive days before it was deemed to have been acquired. Alternatively, a sign had to be used at least 15 days out of 30 consecutive days. By the end of the 22nd month of the project, thirty-four signs had been learned.
Differentiation: Washoe used the sign "more" in many different situations until a more specific sign had been learned. At one point, she used the sign for "flower" to express the idea of "smell." After additional training, Washoe was eventually able to differentiate between "smell" and "flower."
Transfer: Although the same object was presented for each learning trial (a specific hat, for example), Washoe was able to use the sign for other similar objects (e.g. other hats).
Combinations: Washoe was able to combine two or three signs in an original way. For example, "open food drink" meant "open the fridge" and "please open hurry" meant "please open it quickly."

Criticisms of Primate Language Research

Many prominent scientists, including MIT linguist Noam Chomsky and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, are skeptical about claims made for great ape language research. Among the reasons for skepticism are the differences in ease with which human beings and apes can learn language, the lack of a clear beginning and end to signed gestures, and the lack of proof regarding whether the apes actually understand language or are simply doing a clever trick. While vocabulary words from American Sign Language are used to train the apes, native users of ASL note that mere knowledge of ASL's vocabulary does not equate to ASL, but more closely reflects Pidgin Signed English which is not a language. In the research involving Washoe, all researchers returned lists of signs Washoe used, with the exception of the one deaf native ASL user who reported no signs but many gestures. Deaf people make clear distinctions about what handshapes, palm orientations and places of articulation signs must have to provide meaning. Thus apes are seen as attempting to approximate these complex rules but are thought of as failing because of consistent malformation of the individual signs.