Language comprehension in ape and child. Savage-Rumbaugh, E. S., Murphy, J., Sevcik, R. A., Brakke, K. E., Williams, S. L., & Rumbaugh, D. M. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev, 58(3-4):1-222, 1993. abstract bibtex Previous investigations of the linguistic capacities of apes have focused on the ape's ability to produce words, and there has been little concern for comprehension. By contrast, it is increasingly recognized that comprehension precedes production in the language development of normal human children, and it may indeed guide production. It has been demonstrated that some species can process speech sounds categorically in a manner similar to that observed in humans. Consequently, it should be possible for such species to comprehend language if they have the cognitive capacity to understand word-referent relations and syntactic structure. Popular theories of human language acquisition suggest that the ability to process syntactic information is unique to humans and reflects a novel biological adaptation not seen in other animals. The current report addresses this issue through systematic experimental comparisons of the language comprehension skills of a 2-year-old child and an 8 year-old bonobo (Pan paniscus) who was raised in a language environment similar to that in which children are raised but specifically modified to be appropriate for an ape. Both subjects (child and bonobo) were exposed to spoken English and lexigrams from infancy, and neither was trained to comprehend speech. A common caretaker participated in the rearing of both subjects. All language acquisition was through observational learning. Without prior training, subjects were asked to respond to the same 660 novel sentences. All responses were videotaped and scored for accuracy of comprehension of the English language. The results indicated that both subjects comprehended novel requests and simple syntactic devices. The bonobo decoded the syntactic device of word recursion with higher accuracy than the child; however, the child tended to do better than the bonobo on the conjunctive, a structure that places a greater burden on short-term memory. Both subjects performed as well on sentences that required the ability to reverse work order as they did on sentences that did not require this capacity. These results are discussed in light of a model of the evolution of language that suggests that the potential for language comprehension preceded the appearance of speech by several million years at minimum. The onset of speech is linked to the appearance of fully adapted bipedalism, which necessitated reorientation of the laryngeal tract and made closure of the soft palate possible. For the first time, such closure permitted mammals to easily produce sounds that could be interpreted by the mammalian auditory system in a categorical manner. When these sounds were paired with the previously extant capacity to produce vowels, it became possible to form "bounded vowels" or sound units that could readily be discriminated as units by the auditory system. It is suggested that this physical adaptation allowed the extant cognitive capacity of the hominids to embark on a speech-like mode of communication.
@Article{Savage-Rumbaugh1993,
author = {E. S. Savage-Rumbaugh and J. Murphy and R. A. Sevcik and K. E. Brakke and S. L. Williams and D. M. Rumbaugh},
journal = {Monogr Soc Res Child Dev},
title = {Language comprehension in ape and child.},
year = {1993},
number = {3-4},
pages = {1-222},
volume = {58},
abstract = {Previous investigations of the linguistic capacities of apes have
focused on the ape's ability to produce words, and there has been
little concern for comprehension. By contrast, it is increasingly
recognized that comprehension precedes production in the language
development of normal human children, and it may indeed guide production.
It has been demonstrated that some species can process speech sounds
categorically in a manner similar to that observed in humans. Consequently,
it should be possible for such species to comprehend language if
they have the cognitive capacity to understand word-referent relations
and syntactic structure. Popular theories of human language acquisition
suggest that the ability to process syntactic information is unique
to humans and reflects a novel biological adaptation not seen in
other animals. The current report addresses this issue through systematic
experimental comparisons of the language comprehension skills of
a 2-year-old child and an 8 year-old bonobo (Pan paniscus) who was
raised in a language environment similar to that in which children
are raised but specifically modified to be appropriate for an ape.
Both subjects (child and bonobo) were exposed to spoken English and
lexigrams from infancy, and neither was trained to comprehend speech.
A common caretaker participated in the rearing of both subjects.
All language acquisition was through observational learning. Without
prior training, subjects were asked to respond to the same 660 novel
sentences. All responses were videotaped and scored for accuracy
of comprehension of the English language. The results indicated that
both subjects comprehended novel requests and simple syntactic devices.
The bonobo decoded the syntactic device of word recursion with higher
accuracy than the child; however, the child tended to do better than
the bonobo on the conjunctive, a structure that places a greater
burden on short-term memory. Both subjects performed as well on sentences
that required the ability to reverse work order as they did on sentences
that did not require this capacity. These results are discussed in
light of a model of the evolution of language that suggests that
the potential for language comprehension preceded the appearance
of speech by several million years at minimum. The onset of speech
is linked to the appearance of fully adapted bipedalism, which necessitated
reorientation of the laryngeal tract and made closure of the soft
palate possible. For the first time, such closure permitted mammals
to easily produce sounds that could be interpreted by the mammalian
auditory system in a categorical manner. When these sounds were paired
with the previously extant capacity to produce vowels, it became
possible to form "bounded vowels" or sound units that could readily
be discriminated as units by the auditory system. It is suggested
that this physical adaptation allowed the extant cognitive capacity
of the hominids to embark on a speech-like mode of communication.},
keywords = {Animals, Child, Child Language, Communication, Female, Hominidae, Humans, Infant, Language, Language Tests, Linguistics, Male, Newborn, Preschool, Semantics, Speech, Speech Perception, Verbal Behavior, Vocabulary, 8366873},
}
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M."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","author":[{"firstnames":["E.","S."],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Savage-Rumbaugh"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["J."],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Murphy"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["R.","A."],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Sevcik"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["K.","E."],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Brakke"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["S.","L."],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Williams"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":["D.","M."],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Rumbaugh"],"suffixes":[]}],"journal":"Monogr Soc Res Child Dev","title":"Language comprehension in ape and child.","year":"1993","number":"3-4","pages":"1-222","volume":"58","abstract":"Previous investigations of the linguistic capacities of apes have focused on the ape's ability to produce words, and there has been little concern for comprehension. By contrast, it is increasingly recognized that comprehension precedes production in the language development of normal human children, and it may indeed guide production. It has been demonstrated that some species can process speech sounds categorically in a manner similar to that observed in humans. Consequently, it should be possible for such species to comprehend language if they have the cognitive capacity to understand word-referent relations and syntactic structure. Popular theories of human language acquisition suggest that the ability to process syntactic information is unique to humans and reflects a novel biological adaptation not seen in other animals. The current report addresses this issue through systematic experimental comparisons of the language comprehension skills of a 2-year-old child and an 8 year-old bonobo (Pan paniscus) who was raised in a language environment similar to that in which children are raised but specifically modified to be appropriate for an ape. Both subjects (child and bonobo) were exposed to spoken English and lexigrams from infancy, and neither was trained to comprehend speech. A common caretaker participated in the rearing of both subjects. All language acquisition was through observational learning. Without prior training, subjects were asked to respond to the same 660 novel sentences. All responses were videotaped and scored for accuracy of comprehension of the English language. The results indicated that both subjects comprehended novel requests and simple syntactic devices. The bonobo decoded the syntactic device of word recursion with higher accuracy than the child; however, the child tended to do better than the bonobo on the conjunctive, a structure that places a greater burden on short-term memory. Both subjects performed as well on sentences that required the ability to reverse work order as they did on sentences that did not require this capacity. These results are discussed in light of a model of the evolution of language that suggests that the potential for language comprehension preceded the appearance of speech by several million years at minimum. The onset of speech is linked to the appearance of fully adapted bipedalism, which necessitated reorientation of the laryngeal tract and made closure of the soft palate possible. For the first time, such closure permitted mammals to easily produce sounds that could be interpreted by the mammalian auditory system in a categorical manner. When these sounds were paired with the previously extant capacity to produce vowels, it became possible to form \"bounded vowels\" or sound units that could readily be discriminated as units by the auditory system. It is suggested that this physical adaptation allowed the extant cognitive capacity of the hominids to embark on a speech-like mode of communication.","keywords":"Animals, Child, Child Language, Communication, Female, Hominidae, Humans, Infant, Language, Language Tests, Linguistics, Male, Newborn, Preschool, Semantics, Speech, Speech Perception, Verbal Behavior, Vocabulary, 8366873","bibtex":"@Article{Savage-Rumbaugh1993,\n author = {E. S. Savage-Rumbaugh and J. Murphy and R. A. Sevcik and K. E. Brakke and S. L. Williams and D. M. Rumbaugh},\n journal = {Monogr Soc Res Child Dev},\n title = {Language comprehension in ape and child.},\n year = {1993},\n number = {3-4},\n pages = {1-222},\n volume = {58},\n abstract = {Previous investigations of the linguistic capacities of apes have\n\tfocused on the ape's ability to produce words, and there has been\n\tlittle concern for comprehension. By contrast, it is increasingly\n\trecognized that comprehension precedes production in the language\n\tdevelopment of normal human children, and it may indeed guide production.\n\tIt has been demonstrated that some species can process speech sounds\n\tcategorically in a manner similar to that observed in humans. Consequently,\n\tit should be possible for such species to comprehend language if\n\tthey have the cognitive capacity to understand word-referent relations\n\tand syntactic structure. Popular theories of human language acquisition\n\tsuggest that the ability to process syntactic information is unique\n\tto humans and reflects a novel biological adaptation not seen in\n\tother animals. The current report addresses this issue through systematic\n\texperimental comparisons of the language comprehension skills of\n\ta 2-year-old child and an 8 year-old bonobo (Pan paniscus) who was\n\traised in a language environment similar to that in which children\n\tare raised but specifically modified to be appropriate for an ape.\n\tBoth subjects (child and bonobo) were exposed to spoken English and\n\tlexigrams from infancy, and neither was trained to comprehend speech.\n\tA common caretaker participated in the rearing of both subjects.\n\tAll language acquisition was through observational learning. Without\n\tprior training, subjects were asked to respond to the same 660 novel\n\tsentences. All responses were videotaped and scored for accuracy\n\tof comprehension of the English language. The results indicated that\n\tboth subjects comprehended novel requests and simple syntactic devices.\n\tThe bonobo decoded the syntactic device of word recursion with higher\n\taccuracy than the child; however, the child tended to do better than\n\tthe bonobo on the conjunctive, a structure that places a greater\n\tburden on short-term memory. Both subjects performed as well on sentences\n\tthat required the ability to reverse work order as they did on sentences\n\tthat did not require this capacity. These results are discussed in\n\tlight of a model of the evolution of language that suggests that\n\tthe potential for language comprehension preceded the appearance\n\tof speech by several million years at minimum. The onset of speech\n\tis linked to the appearance of fully adapted bipedalism, which necessitated\n\treorientation of the laryngeal tract and made closure of the soft\n\tpalate possible. 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