I’m afraid that in today’s blog, I’m essentially writing an obituary of sorts. On Tuesday night, Washoe, a chimpanzee, died of natural causes at age 42. Through her life, Washoe was no ordinary chimp. Born and captured in West Africa, Washoe was originally used for research done by the US Air Force. She was soon adopted by psychologists Beatrix and R. Allen Gardner, who treated her like a deaf human child. Washoe started learning American Sign Language that year. According to many scientists, she was the first non-human primate to learn sign language.
This event of teaching a non-human a human language challenged some of the fundamental theories of language, especially the basic assertion that language is core to the human experience. However, if other species can learn language as well, what makes us so special? Is it a question of degree and that we can learn and use language far better than any other species? Or perhaps then language simply isn’t central to our humanity. To resolve these questions and protect their theories, scientists began to question the scientific validity of the Washoe’s acquisition of ASL.
On first glance, Washoe seemed to clearly have a grasp of language. She could reliably use 132 signs. For Washoe, reliability meant that a sign had to be used appropriately and seen by 3 observers on 3 spontaneous instances. It then had to be seen 15 days in a row. So, her vocabulary was fairly extensive. Also, Washoe could combine signs meaningfully. According to Wikipedia (so this might be a little dubious, but it seemed pretty cool anyway), although scientists termed toilets and refrigerators “Potty Chairs” and “Cold Boxes” respectively, Washoe called them “Dirty Goods” and “Open Food Drinks.” So she also showed the capacity to manipulate signs to generate meaning. She apparently also signed “Water Bird” spontaneously after seeing a swan, although this claim seems to be fairly unsubstantiated. According to one of the researchers, Washoe was even able to teach a fellow chimp, Loulis, some ASL without human guidance, and these two chimps could apparently converse at a basic level.
Despite all of these seemingly clear examples of the usage of language, many scientists doubt that Washoe was truly using language. Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker have suggested that Washoe was merely imitating her human handlers and that she wasn’t independently using language. Several other researchers have attempted to teach chimpanzees language in more scientific settings, most notably Herbert Terrace, who tried to teach a chimp named Nim Chimpsky (incidentally, I think this is the best name of all time) ASL. Terrace found that Nim Chimpsky couldn’t spontaneously sign. Rather, he learned an elaborate system to beg for food and rewards.
So the question remains: Exactly how much “language” did Washoe learn? Or did she learn language at all? If she did learn language, and if other chimps are also therefore capable of acquiring language, then we’ll either have to revise the definition of “language” or we’ll have to accept that something beyond simply language and communication defines our humanity. And this statement then begs the question, what does define humanity? What makes us so special?
I think that this question is so central and core to our lives that I almost certainly can’t do it justice. But I can still try, right? I think it is a matter of degree. Yes, Washoe could learn 132 signs. But the average person has tens of thousands of words in his or her vocabulary. We also have such ingrained and complex understandings of grammar which no other species has ever exhibited to our knowledge. All of this allows us to communicate our thoughts articulately and extensively. Concurrently, because of the precision of a symbolic system like language, I think that we can think more precisely and deeply than any other species. I think therein lies the core of our human-ness.
I don’t think my rambling is complete by any means, but I think it’s indicative of how intriguing that little chimp Washoe was.
Pdot N
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/rip-washoe-chim.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003986892_washoe01m.html
http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53815/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_(chimpanzee)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/science/01chimp.html?ex=1351569600&en=2395249fcfe98fa3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
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1 comment:
This is a great story! I think to decide whether a chimpanzee can use language like human depends also on what environment it's being taught. In the sci.lab or in cozy house like a child? Regardless of all skepticism, i still think it's fasinating how other animal could use language. Also, I have heard that dolphins have their own way to communicate like human.
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