The communication that animals establish with each other or with humans is very different from the communication that humans establish with humans. But we cannot deny how advanced the language and communication of primates and humans has been.
Washoe’s research, which was adopted to teach sign language in the 1960s, was to see how similar chimpanzees were to humans in using common language. The results were truly astonishing.
It was adopted for research when he was only 10 months old.
Born in Africa in 1965, Washoe’s mother was probably killed by a hunter and taken to the market for sale in Washoe.
Psychology Professor Dr. Allen Gardner and Dr. Beatrix Gardner took her for research in 1966. The primate, named after the Washoe region where it lived, would go down in history as “the first chimpanzee to learn human language”.
Washoe, like other animals, had a unique character.
He got along very well with humans and other apes. He even reportedly had a good sense of humor. He loved to look at magazines, newspapers, books.
Other activities he did include drawing pictures, having coffee and tea parties, brushing his teeth, and looking at the shoes of his human friends. Pumpkin pudding, eggplant, oatmeal with onions, pea soup, chewing gum, tea and coffee were his favorite foods and drinks.
Washoe was brought up like a mute child.
The chimpanzee, which even had a private house in the garden of the researchers’ house, had perhaps the best years of its life here. He had his own toys and clothes.
His possessive family never verbally communicated with Washoe. They only communicated in sign language to encourage the use of sign language. By the age of about 3, he had learned more than a hundred words. He could even form small sentences using multiple words.
Some of his sentences were as follows:
“Washoe tickles.”
“Give tickle, give more tickle.”
“Please give me food.”
“You go.”
“Hurry up. Give me a toothbrush.”
He even made up his own words to make sense of things!
In addition to expressing existing words in sign language, he found his own signs for some concepts. For example, he used signs meaning “water bird” for swan. This event took everyone by surprise, as only humans were thought to have the ability to use existing words to describe unknown words.
In 1980, Washoe was taken to Central Washington University’s Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute; He met other chimpanzees named Loulis, Tatu, Moja, and Dar. After a while, they were able to communicate in sign language together. It is said that Washoe taught Loulis sign language after their eight days together. This was the first example where an animal instead of a human taught sign language to another creature.
The sign language Washoe learned is the subject of debate among researchers.
Some scientists say that the chimpanzee simply imitates the sign language taught to it and does not use it spontaneously or with a genuine understanding of the grammar of the language.
Yes, the grammatical ability in animals is not as developed as in humans, but I think we will never know whether Washoe used sign language fully consciously.
Washoe became the first example of language-learning chimpanzees in future research, and died in 2007 at the age of 42.
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