Animals and human language - Chimpanzees and language

6 important questions on Animals and human language - Chimpanzees and language

Describe the experiment conducted by Luella and Winthrop Kellog in 1930s with the chimpanzee Gua.

This couple tried raising a chimpanzee alongside their newborn son, to see whether Gua would learn and develop language skills. He was reported to be able to understand about a hundred words but did not say any of them.

Describe the experiment conducted by Catherine and Keith Hayes in 1940s with the chimpanzee Viki.

This couple tried raising a chimp Viki as their own child in their own home. At the age of 3, Viki was able to say mama, papa and cup poorly. The conclusion to this experiment was that gorillas and other apes do not have a physically structures vocal tract appropriate for human language.

Describe the experiment conducted by Beatrix and Allen Gardner with the chimp Washoe.

Washoe was also raised in a comfortable domestic household and when she was around the couple would communicate with each other and Washoe through American sign language. Within 3.5 years Washoe was able to use more than a hundred signs describing objects and people. She was also able to form combinations of these words, making sentences or inventing new combinations (water-bird for swan). This all shows that her communication system had the potential for productivity.
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Describe the experiment conducted by Ann and David Premack, with the chimpanzee Sarah.

Sarah (5yrs at the start of experiment, and in a cage) was being taught to use a set of plastic shapes for the purpose of communicating with humans. The symbols were arbitrary and she was trained to associate the shapes with specific actions. Using these shapes she could form sentences and even understand specific structures (if Sarah put red on green, mary give sarah chocolate)

Describe the experiment conducted by Duane Rumbaugh with the cimp Lana.

Duane taught Lana Yerkish which consists of a set of symbols on a keyboard linked to a computer. Lana would press a sequence of symbols to form the sentence 'please machine give water'.

Describe the experiment conducted by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh with the bonobo Matata and her son Kanzi.

Sue taught Matata Yerkish too, but since Matat was so much oldre she didn't pick up the language. However, Kanzi (her baby) was always with her and seemed to pick up the language by observing and being exposed to the language. He developed a vocab of over 250 forms.

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