Research into non-human great ape language has involved teaching gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans to communicate with human beings and with each other using sign language, physical tokens, and lexigrams; see Yerkish. Gorillas, the largest of the living Primates are ground-dwelling Herbivores that inhabit the Forests of Africa. Chimpanzee (often shortened to chimp) is the common name for the two extant Species of Apes in the Genus Pan. The orangutans are two Species of great apes known for their intelligence long arms and reddish-brown hair A sign language (also signed language) is a Language which instead of acoustically conveyed Sound patterns uses visually transmitted sign patterns A lexigram is a Symbol that represents a word but is not necessarily indicative of the object referenced by the word Yerkish is an artificial Language developed for use by non-human Primates Yerkish requires the primates to use a keyboard to punch keys with so called Primatologists argue that the primates' use of these tools indicates their ability to use "language", although this is not consistent with some definitions of that term. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them

Contents 1 Questions in animal language research 2 Apes that demonstrate understanding 3 Primate use of sign language 3.1 Kanzi 3.2 Washoe 3.3 Nim Chimpsky 4 Plastic tokens 5 Lexigrams 6 Criticisms of primate language research 7 See also 8 References 9 Notes 10 External links

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?

Apes that demonstrate understanding

A production is a stream of lexemes with semantic content. Animal language is the modeling of human language in non human animal systems A stream is a body of Water with a current, confined within a bed and stream-banks For its use in the context of Computer Science see Lexical analysis. Semantics is the study of meaning in communication The word derives from Greek σημαντικός ( semantikos) "significant" from A language is grammar and a set of lexemes. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. A sentence (or statement) is a stream of lexemes which obeys a grammar, with a beginning and an end. In Linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it often preceded and followed Non-human animals have been recorded to have produced behaviors which are consistent with meanings accorded to human sentence productions. (That is, some animals in the following species can be said to "understand" (receive), and some can "apply" (produce) consistent, appropriate, grammatical streams of communication. ) David Premack and Jacques Vauclair have cited language research for the following animals:

• Common Chimpanzees ^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}
• Gorillas ^[8]
• Orangutans ^[9]
• Bonobos ^[10][7]

Primate use of sign language

Sign language and computer keyboards are used in primate language research because non-human primates lack vocal cords and other human speech organs. The Common Chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes) also known as the Robust Chimpanzee, is a great ape. Gorillas, the largest of the living Primates are ground-dwelling Herbivores that inhabit the Forests of Africa. The orangutans are two Species of great apes known for their intelligence long arms and reddish-brown hair The Bonobo (bə'noʊboʊ Pan paniscus) until recently usually called the Pygmy Chimpanzee (and less often the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee The vocal folds, also known commonly as vocal cords, are composed of twin infoldings of Mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the Larynx. In Linguistics ( Articulatory phonetics) manner of articulation describes how the tongue lips and other speech organs are involved in making a sound make However, primates 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. Many of their conclusions have been disputed. ^[11]

However, it is now generally accepted that Apes can learn to sign and are able to communicate with humans. However, they are not able to form syntax to manipulate such signs, a trait which appears to be limited to human language use.

Kanzi

Kanzi, a Bonobo (Pygmy Chimpanzee, Pan paniscus), is believed to understand more human language than any other nonhuman animal in the world. Kanzi (born October 28, 1980) is a male Bonobo who has been featured in several studies on Great ape language. The Bonobo (bə'noʊboʊ Pan paniscus) until recently usually called the Pygmy Chimpanzee (and less often the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee Kanzi apparently learned by eavesdropping on the keyboard lessons researcher Sue Savage-Rumbaugh was giving to his adoptive mother. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is a Primatologist most famous for her work with two Bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, investigating their apparent use of " 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 ½ years old, Kanzi was asked 416 complex questions, responding correctly over 74% of the time. Kanzi has been observed verbalizing a meaningful noun to his sister^[12]. Kanzi (born October 28, 1980) is a male Bonobo who has been featured in several studies on Great ape language.

Washoe

Washoe, a Common Chimpanzee, was caught in the wild in 1966. Washoe (c September 1965 – October 30, 2007) was a chimpanzee who was the first non-human to learn to use a human language that of American The Common Chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes) also known as the Robust Chimpanzee, is a great ape. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. When she was about ten months old, she was received by the husband-and-wife research team of Beatrix T. Gardner and R. Allen Gardner. ^[13] 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 human infant with deaf parents 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. American Sign Language (or ASL Ameslan is the dominant Sign language of the Deaf community in the United States, in the English-speaking parts 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. "

Nim Chimpsky

Linguistic critics challenged the animal trainers to demonstrate that Washoe was actually using language and not symbols. The null hypothesis was that the Gardners were using conditioning to teach the chimpanzee to use hand formations in certain contexts to create desirable outcomes, and that they had not learned the same linguistic rules that humans innately learn. See also Statistical hypothesis testing In Statistics, a null hypothesis ( H 0 is a plausible hypothesis (scenario which may explain

In response to this challenge, the chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky was taught to communicate using sign language in studies led by Herbert S. --> Nim Chimpsky ( November 19, 1973 – March 10, 2000) was Terrace. In 44 months Nim Chimpsky learned 125 signs. ^[14] However, linguistic analysis of Nim's communications demonstrated that Nim's use was symbolic, and lacked grammar, or rules, of the kind that humans use in communicating via language. This constitutes a chimpanzee vocabulary learning rate of roughly 0. 1 words per day. Compare this to the average college-educated English speaker with a vocabulary of greater than 100,000 words; humans learn roughly 14 words per day between ages 2 and 22. ^[15]

Plastic tokens

Sarah and two other chimpanzees, Elizabeth and Peony, in the research programs of David Premack, demonstrated the ability to produce streams of token selections. Sarah is an enculturated research Chimpanzee whose cognitive skills are documented in The Mind of an Ape, by David Premack and Ann James Premack (1983 David Premack is currently emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania The selections came from a vocabulary of several dozen plastic tokens; it took each of the chimpanzees hundreds of trials to reliably associate a token with a referent, such as an apple or banana. The tokens were chosen to be completely different in appearance from the referents. After learning these protocols, Sarah was then able to associate other tokens with consistent behaviors, such as negation, name-of, and if-then. The plastic tokens were placed on a magnetic slate, within a rectangular frame in a line. The tokens had to be selected and placed in a consistent order (a grammar) in order for the trainers to reward the chimpanzees. Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language.

One other chimpanzee, Gussie, was trained along with Sarah but failed to learn a single word. Other chimpanzees in the projects were not trained in the use of the tokens.

A juvenile Sumatran orangutan Aazk (named after the American Association of Zookeepers) who lived at the Roeding Park Zoo (Fresno, California) was taught by Gary L. Shapiro from 1973 to 1975 how to “read & write” with plastic children’s letters, following the training techniques of David Premack. The technique of conditional discrimination was used such that the orangutan could eventually distinguish plastic letter (symbols) as representations of referents (e. g. , object, actions) and “read” an increasingly longer series of symbols to obtain a referent (e. g. , fruit) or “write” an increasingly longer series of symbols to request or describe a referent. While no claim of linguistic competence was made, Aazk’s performance demonstrated design features of language, many similar to those demonstrated by Premack’s chimpanzee, Sarah.

Lexigrams

Lexigrams are images on flat "keyboards", arranged in rectangular arrays. A lexigram is a Symbol that represents a word but is not necessarily indicative of the object referenced by the word [1]

Criticisms of primate language research

Many scientists, including MIT linguist Noam Chomsky and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, are skeptical about claims made for great ape language research. A scientist, in the broadest sense refers to any person that engages in a systematic activity to acquire Knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields Avram Noam Chomsky (noʊm ˈtʃɑmski born December 7 1928 is an American linguist, Philosopher, cognitive scientist, Political Cognitive science may be broadly defined as the multidisciplinary study of mind and behavior Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18 1954 is a prominent Canadian - American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author Among the reasons for skepticism are the differences in ease with which human beings and apes can learn language, questions as to the whether there is a clear beginning and end to the signed gestures, and whether the apes actually understand language or are simply doing a clever trick for a reward. TRICK is an album released by Panic Channel on March 24, 2005.

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 full-fledged language. A pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common in situations such as Trade 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. Native users of ASL make clear distinctions about what handshapes, palm orientations and places of articulation signs must have to constitute linguistic activity. Signs must also be used combinatorially and in the correct grammatical sequence. Thus apes are seen as attempting to approximate these complex rules but are considered to be failing because of such malformations in the production of ASL signs. (However, proponents argue that such limitations might indicate instead that great ape ASL use more closely approximates a rudimentary stage of a young child's language development, or an early stage of an adult second language learner. )

See also

• Animal cognition
• Animal communication
• Animal language
• Animal training
• Human-animal communication
• Operant conditioning
• Language - as it pertains to humans
• Language acquisition
• Proto-language (glottogony)
• Theory of mind
• Yerkish

Researchers

• Roger Fouts
• David Premack
• Sue Savage-Rumbaugh

Animals

• Ai (chimpanzee)
• Chantek (orangutan)
• Kanzi (Bonobo)
• Lana (chimpanzee)
• Koko (gorilla)
• Nim Chimpsky (chimpanzee)
• Panzee and Panbanisha (chimpanzee and bonobo)
• Washoe (chimpanzee)
• Rinnie (orangutan)

References

• David Premack. Animal cognition is the title given to a modern approach to the mental capacities of (non-human Animals. Animal communication is any Behaviour on the part of one Animal that has an effect on the current or future behaviour of another animal Animal language is the modeling of human language in non human animal systems Animal training refers to Teaching Animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Human-animal communication is easily observed in everyday life A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them One hotly debated issue is whether the biological contribution includes capacities specific to language acquisition often referred to as Universal grammar. The origin of language ( glottogony) is a topic that has attracted considerable speculation throughout human history " Theory of mind " is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs intents desires pretending knowledge etc Yerkish is an artificial Language developed for use by non-human Primates Yerkish requires the primates to use a keyboard to punch keys with so called Roger Fouts (born June 8, 1943) is an American primate researcher David Premack is currently emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is a Primatologist most famous for her work with two Bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, investigating their apparent use of " Ai (born in 1976 is a female Chimpanzee currently living at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University (acronym KUPRI Chantek (born December 17, 1977, at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta Georgia) is a male Orangutan who Kanzi (born October 28, 1980) is a male Bonobo who has been featured in several studies on Great ape language. Lana (born on October 7 1970) is a female Chimpanzee, the first to be used in language research using Lexigrams She was born at the Yerkes National Koko (born July 4, 1971, in San Francisco California) is a Lowland gorilla who according to Francine 'Penny' Patterson, is able --> Nim Chimpsky ( November 19, 1973 – March 10, 2000) was Panpanzee, often called "Panzee" and Panbanisha are two Apes with whom research is being carried out in the United States Washoe (c September 1965 – October 30, 2007) was a chimpanzee who was the first non-human to learn to use a human language that of American David Premack is currently emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Intelligence in Ape and Men.
• Hillix, W. A. and Duane Rumbaugh. Animal Bodies, Human Minds.
• Jacques Vauclair, Animal Cognition:an introduction to Modern Comparative Psychology. ISBN 0-674-03703-0
• R. Allen Gardner, Beatrix T. Gardner, & Thomas E. Van Cantfort (Eds. ) Teaching Sign Language to Chimpanzees. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-88706-966-5

Notes

External links

• GaTech.edu - 'Animal Communication' (from the book: Language Files, Sixth Edition), editors: Stefanie Jannedy, Robert Poletto, Tracey L. Weldon, Department of Linguistics Ohio State University (1994)
• Great Ape Trust-'Use of Human Languages By Captive Great Apes' from the book World Atlas of Great Apes and Their Conservation By Duane Rumbaugh, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and William Fields (2005)
• Thailand tree apes use song as warning

The Ohio State University ( OSU) is a Coeducational public Research university in the state of Ohio. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is a Primatologist most famous for her work with two Bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, investigating their apparent use of "

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