LING 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 38: Nim Chimpsky, James Rumbaugh, Bonobo
Primates
One would guess this is where to look for the closet thing to human language since they are our
closet relative
• Old world monkeys resemble to a certain extent the ability humans have to use words
o Ex: vervet monkeys. They have three types of calls about eagles, leopards, or snakes.
However, are they three distinct calls, or just three versions of danger?
• If a specific monkey's recorded leopard call is played over and over to a group
of monkeys when no leopard is present, they will learn to ignore it. However,
they still respond to other calls, which suggests they are distinct
o Is it a scream or a real warning to others?
• These monkeys do not make these calls when they are alone, and submissive
vervets make fewer alarms calls then dominant ones, suggesting these are real
calls intended to communicate
There habe been many attempts to teach language to our closer relatives like chimpnzees
• Nim Chimpsky, born in 1973 and raised by a family in NYC as part of a research project to
learn sign language
o No syntax, but was able to learn about 125 signs over three years
o Major conclusions:
1. All (or nearly all) signs were performed when the references objects was
visually or auditorily present in the environment. No discussion of non-present
objects, except for requests for rewards like food
2. Nim could create multiple signs in a row, but tended to be repetitive for
emphasis without ordering constraints (no syntax or hierarchical structure)
• Kanzi the bonobo: Matata was a bonobo (related to chimpanzees) that Sue Savage -
Rumbaugh tried to teach to use a special keyboard.
o Wanted to learn spoken english words and the keys on the keyboard to
communicate those english words. Was not good at it, but her son who was present
when the researcher was working with Matata, and Konzi learned what Matata was
supposed to be learning
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