The Talking Ape: How Language Evolved

Language is the most effective method of human communication. It is rich and complex. And it carries meaning. It enables one to express knowledge and thoughts. Animals also can communicate but in a very distinctive and different way. Some animals like birds, dogs and dolphins have their own inborn method of communicating. Their communication is different from human communication or language. As they react to triggers, stimuli or commands. Human language is unique and very different from animal communication. Human language unlike animal communication is organized on two levels. Human language has a fixed number of sounds called phonemes. These phonemes are combined to make morphemes. Thus language has two levels of patterns, while animal communication does not. Human language is open-ended allowing for humans to create new expressions and new sentences by rearranging phonemes and morphemes. Animal cannot produce new vocal sounds. Human language allows for real or imaginary articulation. Animal communication is simply a response to stimulus like the presence of danger or simulation. Imitation is an …show more content…
Viki was an ape that was intentionally taught language but the results were poor as the people who were conducting the tests on Viki were more focused on teaching her to articulate spoken language. As for Kanzi, he lived with other apes but was constantly interacting with humans. A result of Kanzi’s interactions with humans showed his ability to comprehend a small sample of the English language. The experiments conducted on Kanzi were also conducted on the researcher’s daughter. The researcher, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, daughter, Alia, was around two years old as Kanzi was eight years old. After a series of trails that were mainly command based Alia, two years old, and Kanzi, eight years old, showed similar comprehension ability (Burling,