32@222

Chimps, Chumps, and Language

Researchers     Primate                Style

1) Hayes'         Chimp                    Speech

2) Kellogg's'    Chimp                    Speech

3) Gardners'   Washoe             AmSign Lan

4) Terrace     Nim Chimpsky  AmSignLan

5) Premack    Sarah                Plastic Symbs

6) Savage-     Kanzi                Lexigram bd

     Rumbaugh                    13000 words

                                          20000combinations

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Yerkes primate center: attends language classes with mother, Lana, and exhibits extraordinary observation and generative language. Kanzi's performance provides the best evidence available so far that a nonhuman not only can learn a substantial vocabulary but also can learn to form word combinations characterized by grammar.

1) Hayes and Hayes (1951) tried literally to teach chimps to

   speak. Mama. Papa. Cup. Not fruitful. Speech is not

   language. Kellogs

2) WashoeWashoe  is a chimpanzee who was taught to sign by her caretakers, Allen and Beatrice Gardner.

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She was raised in a friendly environment in which she learned sign language both through imitation

and instrumental learning.  Her language acquisition was notable in several respects.  Washoe wasable to transfer signs to a new referent without specific instruction.  For example, she learned the word "more" in relation to tickling but was spontaneously able to apply the term to another referent.   Additionally significant was Washoe's use of signs in combinations after learning only about 8 or 10 signs.  This spontaneous combination of signs seems similar to the ability of humanchildren to connect words in sentences to which they have never specifically been exposed.

Washoe has demonstrated reliable use of 240 signs.   A sign is deemed reliable when its use has been recorded by three separate observers on 15 consecutive days.  Her trainers have observed that Washoe mostly uses her signs to discipline her children and explain her concern about them Non-oral language (ASL) Hand gestures. Allen and Beatrice

Signing vocabulary of 160 words.  She learned to combine words "gimme flower" Washoe sorry More fruit Go out Water bird. Conclusion. Language development of a 3 year old. Little progress thereafter.

3) Shift from speech. Premack (Premack principle) used small plastic symbols of various colors and shapes as substitutes for words. Sarah was taught to arrange these arbitrary symbols to communicate messages. %= Mary, &Sarah< $=give, 3=apple. The sophistication of this exchange might not impress you--until you learn that the student is a two-and-half year old

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chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky. The conversation might sound odd to you but it was produced and conducted in signlanguage. Terrace (errorless discrimination fame) who raised the Chimp (like the Gardeners Washoe) from birth in a home environment. Conversation does appear to be intelligent and appropriate. Does Nim know how to speak? If so it would mean that language is not specifically human. It is my feeling that studying some of the studies in animal communication provides a good starting point for our departure into psycholinguistics. (the study of the psychological mechanisms underlying use of language).

Communicating with chimpanzees: 

4) Sue Savage Rumbaugh, Rose Sevcik and Liz Ruppert. (1986)

   Yerkes primate laboratory

Kanzi: Yerkes primate center: attends language classes with mother, Lana, and exhibits extraordinary observation and generative language. Kanzi's performance provides the best evidence available so far that a nonhuman not only can learn asubstantial vocabulary but also can learn to form word ombinations characterized by grammar.) Purpose: Developmental account of how chimps acquire ability to communicate: Touching geometric figures on a    keyboard. Each symbol represents a word. "Yerkish" Robert  Yerkes.

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Chimp =Kanzi. Kanzi's mother was trained to communicate with caretakers with same symbol/figure   arrangement: Separation. Kanzi was permitted to attend mom’s language lesions. He appeared to search for particular symbols without specific reinforcement.  Behavior reflected learning.

B) Subject: Pigmy chimp.

C) Method:  Utterances after 2 and ½

Computer based data: Graphic symbols used to communicate atall times (both inside and outside).

Results: 50 words with 800 combinations.

(symbols generally represented food, chase, groom,

Combinations were spontaneous. Person chase Kanzi and viceversa.

Discussions: Study provides stronger support than previous

research for the hypothesis that chimps may able to

follow rules of language in generating spontaneous

sentences. Used symbols without specific training. Mama.

Comment: Impressive accomplishments. Big question is Kanzi

using symbols like humans use them. But is it really

language. To maybe better understand the controversy let's

study the structure of language and get back to the Kanzi

question.

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 ___________________________________________________

Summary

Vocabulary

Human vocabulary

     Several thousand vocabulary items (isn't this a very conservative estimate?)

About half the words in utterances are functors (class: count the contentives and functors in the first full paragraph on; how do they compare?) vocabulary

Several hundred vocabulary items