How significant is language as a feature of what makes humans different from other animals?

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  • Does language make humans different to animals?
    • No
      • Gardner and Gardner
        • Taught Washoe, a chimpansee, ASL
          • By the age of 4, Washoe had a vocabulary of 130 signs
            • She could sign three or more words together e.g. 'You tickle me'
      • Savage-Rumbaugh
        • A bonobo (pygmy chimp), Kanzi learnt how to use a symbol keyboard by watching his mother
          • A lexigram was known only if Kanzi could spontaneously produce it correctly on 9 occasions
            • Could comprehend the spoken word and the lexigram before using it
              • Over 17 months, could understand 60 symbols and produce 50, as well as 2 or 3 combinations
                • Level of understanding as good as a young child and even better for retrieval of items from a location
    • Yes
      • Chomsky
        • Humans the only species with a LAD
          • Mechanism containing universal rules of grammar to learn any language
        • Chimps can learn words but the use of grammar is unique to humans
      • Vocal apparatus not capable of producing words
        • Attempts at teaching chimps speech have failed (Hayes, 1952)
      • Terrace et al. (1979)
        • Taught Nim, a chimpanzee, ASL
          • Claims he imitated the trainers to his advantage
            • Nim didn't necessarily understand human language

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