Linguistically Mediated Tool Use and Exchange by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes)

Abstract

It is surprising that, given the enduring interest in the ability of apes to communicate symbolically with one another, all language work with apes has hitherto concentrated upon their ability to demonstrate language functions and syntax in interaction with human beings (Fouts 1974a; Gardner & Gardner 1969, 1971; Patterson 1977; Premack 1976a; Rumbaugh 1977; Terrace & Bever this volume). As Steklis and Harnad (1976) point out, the true adaptive function of language lies in the ability it confers upon man to transmit specific information in an abstract, context-free form. Previous work with apes has, for the most part, placed a highly sophisticated and competent, language-using human being in the role of either the receiver or the transmitter in every linguistic interchange. This essentially allows the chimpanzee to “fill in the blanks” while the nature of the interchange is basically structured by the human being. Anecdotal reports on chimpanzees learning American Sign Language (ASL) have suggested that the animals are communicating with one another through signs (Fouts 1973, 1974a; Gardner & Gardner 1978); however, what is not clear in any of these cases is (1) whether the chimpanzees were indeed gesturing to one another and not to the humans who were nearby, (2) whether the ASL gestures used were essentially different from the nonverbal gestures reported for wild chimpanzees, (3) whether the recipient of the gesture altered his behavior in specific response to the gesture, or (4) whether the animals were capable of reversing transmitter’s and receiver’s roles.

The “fundamental linguistics situation” is that of cooperation between two individuals, A and B, in which A stimulates B to do something impossible for A to accomplish, but which is adaptive with respect to A.

—Paraphrase of Bloomfield by Crawford (1941: 259)