The Great Ape Language
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The Great Ape Language. By Patricia Pascual. http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2008/0311/p13s01-bogn.html. Whoa…. Back it Up. Chomsky Said What?. What Chomsky said (Rumbaugh) Language is in the genetic makeup of human beings Only humans have and use language. NOAM. CHOMSKY.
The Great Ape Language
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The Great Ape Language By Patricia Pascual http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2008/0311/p13s01-bogn.html
Whoa…. Back it Up. Chomsky Said What? • What Chomsky said (Rumbaugh) • Language is in the genetic makeup of human beings • Only humans have and use language NOAM CHOMSKY http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2008/10/noam-chomsky-ca.html
And Then There Were Great Apes • Why Great Apes? • Share 99% of genetic material with YOU… and me. (Jannedy) • Smart, social, easier to live with than an elephant • Gua: 1930s Experiment • Goal: to see if a chimp can learn language merely by exposure • No formal education • How: Gua was “adopted” by a human family • Successful? NO http://www.umbc.edu/blogs/changingaging/longevity/
Projects and Experiments Continued… • Viki: 1950s Experiment • Goal: To prove a chimp could learn language if raised properly • How: Live with humans and undergo training • Successful? NO • Koko: 1970s Experiment • Goal: To prove non-human primates have human language capability • How: Vocal anatomy of gorillas showed they physically lack capability to speak, so Koko was taught ASL • Successful? YES!
More Recent Projects • Project Nim: Nim Chimpsky • Goal: To see if a chimp could use ASL to communicate and disprove Noam Chomsky’s claim • How: Immerse Nim in an environment where he would use ASL • Successful? NO • Then what’s so special about Nim? • His communicative language skills did not develop entirely, but his social skills did http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90516132
More Recent Projects Continued… • Language Analogue Project • Goal: To show language ability of chimps specifically with lexigrams • Lexigrams- symbols that correspond with objects or ideas (Jannedy) • Research project used Lana, female chimp, for studies • How: Trained Lana to communicate in Yerkish, a language designed for primates which includes a keyboard with lexigrams (Great ape) • Successful? YES! http://www.greatapetrust.org/science/history-of-ape-language/use-of-human-languages-by-captive-great-apes/
So What? • The Future • Researchers have moved on from trying to teach chimps to learn human language to studying how they communicate on their own (Adler) • Issues and Concerns • Is this ethical? • Are they really learning? • What does this mean for humans? • Further thinking • Why were Viki’s and Nim’s results considered unsuccessful? • Language is more than just a way of transferring information • Was Chomsky right? <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90516132>.
Oh the Possibilities… http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen/2008/02/vote.html
Works Cited • Great Ape Trust of Iowa. Bonobos May Have Greater Linguistic Skills Than Previously Thought. ScienceDaily, 2 Sep. 2008. 6 April 2011.<http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/g/great_ape_language.htm>. • Adler, Margot. The Chimp That Learned Sign Language. Day to Day from National Public Radio, 28 May 2008. 7 April 2011. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90516132>. • Rumbaugh, Duane. Use of Human Language by Captive Great Apes. Great Ape Trust, 2005. 6 April 2011. <http://www.greatapetrust.org/science/history-of-ape- language/use-of-human-languages-by-captive-great-apes/>. • Jannedy, Stefanie. Animal Communication. The Linguistics Department of Ohio State University, 1994. 7 April 2011. <http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~mcnair/Teaching/3206- S2004/Animal_Communication.htm>. • Great Ape Language. ScienceDaily. 6 April 2011. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/g/great_ape_language.htm>. • Great ape Language. Wikipedia. 2 March 2011. 6 April 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ape_language>.