Why Chimpanzees Can't Learn Language and Only Humans Can

by Herbert S. Terrace

Book Overview

In the 1970s, the behavioral psychologist Herbert S. Terrace led a remarkable experiment to see if a chimpanzee could be taught to use language. A young ape, named "Nim Chimpsky" in a nod to the linguist whose theories Terrace challenged, was raised by a family in New York and instructed in American Sign Language. Initially, Terrace thought that Nim could create sentences but later discovered that Nim's teachers inadvertently cued his signing...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231171102
• ISBN13: 9780231171106
• Release Date: October 2019
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.8"