by AdamHat

Created on: February 21, 2009

Language: The Human Experience

In recent years, Savage-Rumbaugh (SR) has been developing tests and demonstrations on apes using language. Of these experiments, Kanzi a bonobo has had the most success' in seeming to manipulate signs effectively. This experiment then assumes they can reduce human language into a systematic paradigm of strung-together physical motions (sign language). That is to say SR explains an effect without the cause. In a similar way, there are two paths to acing a multiple-choice physics exam:

First: I could actually know/understand/comprehend all the matters surrounding physics and what is covered on the test.

Second: I could simply know the placement of the correct answers A-D; by memorizing these letters in a proper order, I would give the illusion of understanding/comprehending physics.

Before we can even begin to discuss the matter of apes comprehending human language, we must first explain this loosely defined word.

What is Language?
To begin, the language in question is not equal to communication,' for in that sense, there would be no argument that apes can communicate to one another in their own ape-language alerting fellow apes of immediate danger and other relatively simple concepts. This communication is common in nearly (if not all) animals, and can be thoroughly explained and defended through the benefits of communication to survival. It is clear to see that animals will have a better chance at survival if they are forewarned of any near and present danger, or the whereabouts of food. So essentially, this creates an entire series of languages, not just a language' that we are able to define. Rather, there is a cat-language, dog-language, or even a platypus-language.

Asking the question, "Can apes learn language" is an incomplete phrase that needs redefining, and in accordance to the experiments provided by SR and other like-minded individuals who have been working with language and apes, the language in question is our very own human-language. SR has chosen to use the set of symbols, syntax, and grammatical rule that we, as humans, are commonly exposed to. Thus the question is redefined as: Can Apes Learn Human-Language?

Again, with little attention, we will find ourselves entering another paradox of a term. What then defines human-language? Language in humans plays a much larger role than it does in preceding animals. We use language as a tool of cognitive and intrapersonal thought. While you lie in your bed before falling asleep,

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