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Nim Chimpsky (November 21, 1973 – March 10, 2000) was a chimpanzee who was the subject of an extended study of animal language acquisition (codenamed 6.001) at Columbia University, led by Herbert S. Terrace. Chimpsky was given his name to mock Noam Chomsky, a critic of animal research into language acquisition. is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ...
March 10 is the 69th day of the year (70th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Type species Simia troglodytes Blumenbach, 1775 distribution of Species Pan troglodytes Pan paniscus Chimpanzee, often shortened to chimp, is the common name for the two extant species in the genus Pan. ...
In linguistics, animal language acquisition (ALA) refers to controversial claims and experiments which assert, or are otherwised based in a view that non-human animals hold abilities for generating and communicating the symbols of abstract language, though they have not manifest such abilities in nature. ...
Columbia University is a private research university in the United States. ...
Avram Noam Chomsky (Hebrew :××‘×¨× × ×•×¢× ×—×•×ž×¡×§×™ Yiddish: ××‘×¨× × ×•×¢× ×›×מסקי) , Ph. ...
Project Nim Project Nim was an attempt to replicate Project Washoe, in which it was claimed that the chimpanzee Washoe learned to understand and use American Sign Language. Terrace and his colleagues aimed to use more rigorous experimental techniques, and the intellectual discipline of the experimental analysis of behavior, so that the linguistic abilities of the apes could be put on a more secure footing. Washoe Washoe is a chimpanzee, currently living at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. ...
It has been suggested that ASL Grammar be merged into this article or section. ...
The experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to the approach to psychology founded by B. F. Skinner. ...
Attention was particularly focused on Nim's ability to make different responses to different sequences of signs, and to emit different sequences in order to communicate different meanings. However, the results were not as impressive as had been reported from the Washoe project, and from another project with the gorilla Koko. The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...
Type species Troglodytes gorilla Savage, 1847 distribution of Gorilla Species Gorilla gorilla Gorilla beringei The gorilla, the largest of the living primates, is a ground-dwelling omnivore that inhabits the forests of Africa. ...
Koko (born July 4, 1971, in San Francisco, California) is the name of a captive, acculturated gorilla trained by Dr. Francine Penny Patterson and other scientists at Stanford University to allegedly communicate with more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language, and understand approximately 2,000 words of...
While Nim did learn 125 signs, the study concluded that he hadn't acquired anything the researchers were prepared to designate worthy of the name "language" although he had learned to repeat his trainers' signs in appropriate contexts. One of Terrace's colleagues, Laura-Ann Petitto, estimated that with more standard criteria the true vocabulary count would be closer to 25 than 125. Nim's longest recorded utterance was "Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you."
Terrace and his colleagues concluded that the chimpanzee did not show any meaningful sequential behavior that rivaled human grammar. Nim's use of language was strictly pragmatic and used only as a means of obtaining an outcome, unlike a human child's, which can serve to generate or express meanings, thoughts or ideas. There was nothing Nim could be taught that could not equally well be taught to a pigeon using the principles of operant conditioning. The researchers therefore were to question claims made on behalf of Washoe, and to argue that the apparently impressive results may have resulted from a relatively informal experimental approach. For the topic in theoretical computer science, see Formal grammar Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ...
Pigeon redirects here. ...
Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. ...
Terrace's skeptical approach to the claims that chimpanzees could learn and understand sign language led to heated disputes with Allen and Beatrice Gardner, who initiated the Washoe Project. The Gardners argued that Terrace's approach to training, and the use of many different assistants, did not harness the chimpanzee's full cognitive and linguistic resources. This makes some sense as it is a common opinion among professional educators that intellectual development does not blossom in an environment bereft of intimate emotional bonds and stability. The position is still not fully resolved, because the financial and other costs of carrying out language-training experiments with apes make replication studies difficult to mount. The definitions of both "language" and "imitation", and the question of how language-like Nim's performance was, will remain controversial. Washoe Washoe is a chimpanzee, currently living at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. ...
Critics of primate linguistic studies include animal psychologist Thomas Sebeok who stated: Thomas Albert Sebeok (born in Budapest, Hungary, on November 9, 1920, died December 21, 2001 in Bloomington, Indiana) was one of the most prolific and wide-ranging of US semioticians. ...
- "In my opinion, the alleged language experiments with apes divide into three groups: one, outright fraud; two, self-deception; three, those conducted by Terrace. The largest class by far is the middle one." (Wade, 1980).
Sebeok also made pointed comparisons of Washoe with Clever Hans. Some evolutionary psychologists argue that the apparent impossibility of teaching language to animals is indicative that the ability to use language is an innately human development (Pinker & Bloom, 1990). Clever Hans performs Clever Hans (in German, der Kluge Hans) was a horse that was apparently trained to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks. ...
Roger Fouts from the Washoe Project refers to the Clever Hans example also. However, he claims that Project Nim was poorly conducted, because it didn't have strong enough methodology background to avoid such comparisons and efficiently defend from them. He also shares the Gardners' point of view that the process of acquiring language skills through the natural social interactions gives substantially better results than behavioural conditioning. His own experiments show that pure conditioning can lead to using language as a method mainly to get rewards, rather than raising communication abilities. Fouts later proved that a community of ASL-speaking chimpanzees (including Washoe herself) was spontaneously using this language as a part of their inner communication system. They have even directly taught ASL signs to their children (Loulis) without human help or intervention. This means that not only they can use the language, but also it began a significant part of their lives.[1] Roger Fouts (born June 8, 1943) is an American primate researcher. ...
Methodology is defined as the analysis of the // == Headline text == principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline or the development of methods, to be applied within a discipline a particular procedure or set of procedures. [1]. It should be noted that methodology is frequently used when method...
Loulis (b. ...
Retirement and death After his owners were reportedly going to sell Nim to a research lab, public involvement funded Nim's retirement to a ranch in Texas, where he died at the age of 26 from a heart attack. Official language(s) No Official Language See languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area Ranked 2nd - Total 261,797 sq mi (678,051 km²) - Width 773 miles (1,244 km) - Length 790 miles (1,270 km) - % water 2. ...
Quotations
Three-sign quotations - Apple me eat
- Banana Nim eat
- Banana me eat
- Drink me Nim
- Eat Nim eat
- Eat Nim me
- Eat me Nim
- Eat me eat
- Finish hug Nim
- Give me eat
- Grape eat Nim
- Hug me Nim
- Me Nim eat
- Me more eat
- More eat Nim
- Nut Nim nut
- Play me Nim
- Tickle me Nim
- Tickle me eat
- Yogurt Nim eat
Four-sign quotations - Banana Nim banana Nim
- Banana eat me Nim
- Banana me Nim me
- Banana me eat banana
- Drink Nim drink Nim
- Drink eat drink eat
- Drink eat me Nim
- Eat Nim eat Nim
- Eat drink eat drink
- Eat grape eat Nim
- Eat me Nim drink
- Grape eat Nim eat
- Grape eat me Nim
- Me Nim eat me
- Me eat drink more
- Me eat me eat
- Me gum me gum
- Nim eat Nim eat
- Play me Nim play
- Tickle me Nim play
Longest quotation - Orange eat me orange orange me eat orange eat orange me me me me orange eat orange orange me eat eat orange me eat me.
See also This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Generative linguistics. ...
Koko (born July 4, 1971, in San Francisco, California) is the name of a captive, acculturated gorilla trained by Dr. Francine Penny Patterson and other scientists at Stanford University to allegedly communicate with more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language, and understand approximately 2,000 words of...
Kanzi (born October 23, 1980), a bonobo, is one of the most most famous and accomplished linguistic apes, in research led by E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. ...
Panzee and Panbanisha are two apes with whom research is being carried out in the United States. ...
Washoe Washoe is a chimpanzee, currently living at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. ...
External links
References - Seidenberg, M.S. and Pettito, L.A. (1979). Signing behavior in apes: A critical review. Cognition 7: 177-215.
- Terrace, H. S. (1979). Nim. New York: Knopf.
- Pinker, S., & Bloom, P. (1990). Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 13, 707-784.
- Wade, N. (1980). Does man alone have language? Apes reply in riddles, and a horse says neigh. Science, 208, 1349-1351.
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