Definition
Great ape language research explores how and when mechanisms for language may have evolved and explores the range and dynamics of linguistic capabilities in great apes. This research is concentrated around the mid- to late 1900s and turn of the century and includes a wide variety of studies focused on the induced development of language ability across a variety of modalities, spoken, signed, and visual, in several species of Hominidae: Pongo (orangutan), Gorilla (eastern and western gorilla), and Pan (the common chimpanzee and the bonobo).
Introduction
Language research is inextricably tied to questions of human uniqueness. For all the different ways in which animals communicate – auditorily, visually, chemically, even electrically – language has evolved only one time. Modern language research is a culmination of the efforts of researchers from diverse fields including linguistics, evolutionary biology, and cognitive, developmental, and comparative psychology. The practice...
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Cairo-Evans, A. (2021). Language Research: Great Apes. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1679-1
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