Abstract
Two groups of investigators have recently reported some success in teaching language to chimpanzees. This finding has been generally attributed to the choice of a favorable communication modality. However, the fact that the languages employed were not phonemic also seems critical. It is doubtful whether chimpanzees could learn a phonemic language.
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This research was supported in part by PHS Grants No. GM01789 and GM16735 to The Rockefeller University.
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Healy, A.F. Can chimpanzees learn a phonemic language?. J Psycholinguist Res 2, 167–170 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067209
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067209