ANIMALS AND HUMAN LANGUAGE revista animals and humans (1) | Page 12

Using Language

Important lessons have been learned from attempts to teach chimpanzees how to use forms of language .

We have answered some questions , Were Washoe and Kanzi capable of taking part in interaction with humans by using a symbol system chosen by humans and not chimpanzees ?

The answer is clearly “ Yes .”

Did Washoe and Kanzi go on to perform linguistically on a level comparable to a human child about to begin preschool ? The answer is

In arriving at these answers , we have also had to face the fact that , even with our list of key properties , we still don ’ t seem to have a non-controversial definition of what counts as “ using language ”.