1. Talking to Chimpanzees
Is language the exclusive property of human beings?
Are the communication systems used by other creatures at all like human linguistic knowledge?
Some researchers devoted their time to teach a chimpanzee how to use human language- not successful
1930s à Gua- was able to understand 100 words but did not produce any
1940s à Viki- produced poorly articulated versions of mama, papa, and cup
result à non-human primates lack a physically structured vocal tract needed to produce sounds
Washoe in 1966: A couple of scientists used a version of American sign language. They raised Washoe like a human being. After 3 and half years , Washoe came to use more than 100 words airplane, baby, banana. He combined them to produce sentences more fruit .
Sarah and Lana: they both shaped word symbols using a set of plastic shapes that represent words to communicate with humans. They were trained to associate shapes with objects or actions, and were capable of producing sentences Mary give chocolate Sarah.
Were those chimpanzees capable of taking part in interactions by using symbols chosen by humans and not chimpanzees? Did they perform linguistically on a level of a child their age?
Humans possess a natural, inborn facility to be creative with symbols; as far as we know, animals do not.