Ape language

Question 1

Fill in the gaps about language and communication…
1. Animals communicate without _______, and so can ______
2. Language is a learned ______ system with near infinite _______ capacity

Answer 1

1. language, humans
2. Symbolic, generative

Question 2

Fill in the gaps about symbols and grammar…
1. Symbols are _____, they represent ______ or objects
2. Grammar permits near-_____ expression:
a) Word _____: Solo guitar and Guitar solo are different
b) _______: “the capacity to generate an infinite range of expressions from a finite set of elements” (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002, p. 1569).
i) _____ units (phonemes)
ii) _____ units (morphemes)

Answer 2

1. arbitrary, concepts
2. infinite
   a) order
   b) Recursion
   i) Sound
   ii) Meaning units

Question 3

In Kellogg and Kellogg (1933) The Ape and the Child experiment, what did they find each could comprehend?

Answer 3

Gua (ape) 7-16mos. comprehend 95 words and phrases
Donald (child) 10-19mos. - comprehend 107 words and phrases

Question 4

What was found in ape symbol acquisition?
1. Learned ___ ASL signs in ____ years (humans typically at least this many words within one year after first words)
2. Acquired about ____ signs (human adult __,000 to ___,000 words)
3. Very ____ criteria - must ______ produce a sign and then use it every day for ___ consecutive days
4. Famously used sign combination “____ ____” to describe a swan

Answer 4

1. 132, four years
2. 240, 20,000, 100,000
   3.strict, spontaneously, 15
3. “water bird”

Question 5

How much of human speech can apes comprehend?

Answer 5

Up to 1,000 or 2,000 words