Chimpanzees: The Advantages Of Learning American Sign Language

It is generally thought that Chimpanzees are relatively intelligent animals, but are they intelligent enough to learn American Sign Language (ASL)? An advantage chimpanzees have is their sociable connection to humans, which is needed for teaching abilities. Even though chimps are affectionate, they are still wild animals. Because of this disadvantage, it will be more of a challenge to teach them sign language. Another major disadvantage of teaching a Chimpanzee a new language is that human speech sounds are unsuitable as a medium of communication for the chimpanzee (Gardner). A chimpanzee’s vocal behavior is very different from a human’s. These animals do not make various sounds like humans do. They only make noises when they are excited or in exciting situations. This is a reason for why Chimpanzees are more likely to able to communicate using ASL rather than speaking. American Sign Language has two different systems: manual alphabet and sign language. In the manual alphabet, the signer’s hand movements respond to each of the letters in the alphabet. Any word …show more content…
Washoe was born in Africa in 1965 and was brought to Washoe County, Nevada; this is where Washoe became introduced to the Gardner brothers (Conger). The brothers used two techniques to teach Washoe ASL. The first technique is called modeling, which is a form of operant conditioning. Modeling occurs when a natural behavior is consistently rewarded. As the study went on, this technique was proven too leisurely and ineffective. The second technique is called molding, which occurs when the hands of the chimpanzee was molded into the correct sign (Lynch). Without a chimps sociable connection to humans, this method would not have been able to work because the Gardner brothers had to be able to physically interact with Washoe. By the time Washoe died in 2007, she had mastered approximately 130 signs