Aping Language: a skeptical analysis of the evidence for nonhuman primate language
by Clive Wynne
In August 1969 the pre-eminent journal Science published a paper which, in its own way, marked as giant a leap for mankind as the first moon landing a month earlier.1 Allen and Beatrice Gardner of the University of Nevada reported that, for the first time in human history, they had conversed with a member of another species. Washoe, a female chimpanzee who had been reared in a trailer in the Gardner’s backyard, had a vocabulary of over one hundred words that she used to effectively communicate with her caregivers.
Centuries earlier, the French philosopher René Descartes observed that, “it is very remarkable that there are none so depraved and stupid, without even excepting idiots, that they cannot arrange different words together, forming of them a statement by which they make known their thoughts; while, on the other hand, there is no other animal, however perfect and fortunately circumstanced it may be, which can do the same.”2 Descartes’ opinion had survived three centuries unthreatened by possible contradiction. Until Washoe, every speaking beast had been shown to be just a circus trick. Parrots might be trained to repeat certain phrases, but they had no understanding of what they were saying. Dogs could respond to commands, but they had no grasp of grammar.
But Washoe was the real McCoy. She didn’t just respond to rote commands, she could correctly react to novel combinations of words. And she created her own little sentences like gimme sweet, come open, and listen dog.3 Taken out on a lake, Washoe saw a swan for the first time and signed water bird for this unfamiliar creature.
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In August 1969 the pre-eminent journal Science published a paper which, in its own way, marked as giant a leap for mankind as the first moon landing a month earlier.1 Allen and Beatrice Gardner of the University of Nevada reported that, for the first time in human history, they had conversed with a member of another species. Washoe, a female chimpanzee who had been reared in a trailer in the Gardner’s backyard, had a vocabulary of over one hundred words that she used to effectively communicate with her caregivers.
Centuries earlier, the French philosopher René Descartes observed that, “it is very remarkable that there are none so depraved and stupid, without even excepting idiots, that they cannot arrange different words together, forming of them a statement by which they make known their thoughts; while, on the other hand, there is no other animal, however perfect and fortunately circumstanced it may be, which can do the same.”2 Descartes’ opinion had survived three centuries unthreatened by possible contradiction. Until Washoe, every speaking beast had been shown to be just a circus trick. Parrots might be trained to repeat certain phrases, but they had no understanding of what they were saying. Dogs could respond to commands, but they had no grasp of grammar.
But Washoe was the real McCoy. She didn’t just respond to rote commands, she could correctly react to novel combinations of words. And she created her own little sentences like gimme sweet, come open, and listen dog.3 Taken out on a lake, Washoe saw a swan for the first time and signed water bird for this unfamiliar creature.
Read the original article in its entirety