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MELISSA
PIERONI
melissapieroni@hotmail.com |
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Section
IB |
Section
II |
Section
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Section
IV |
Section
V |
The Way Chimpanzees Communicate Through Sign Language
I have always been fascinated with the similarities between primates and humans.
One of the most intriguing facets of this topic to me is the way in which
primates, and in particular chimpanzees, have been trained to communicate
through sign language. I have seen programs in which chimps have been trained
to recognize and object and then spell that object out with a special computer
program. However, I have never seen them communicate through sign language,
which seems to be a much more complicated and intricate task.
Through this research, I hope to answer questions such as:
1. How do chimpanzees communicate through sign language?
2. What are the steps involved in training chimpanzees to speak in sign language?
3. Are chimps really communicating and understanding what they are saying
or is all just trained/learned behavior?
My intended audience would be anyone interested in primate language. My paper
would be intended more for readers of a magazine, perhaps some sort of animal
magazine.
· UNC Library Catalog:
"primates" AND "language"
"apes" AND "language" NOT "how to"
· Academic Universe Lexis-Nexis:
"chimpanzee" w/6 AND "sign language"
"Pan troglodytes" AND "communicat!"
· Search Engine on Web: <http://google.com/>
"chimpanzee" AND "sign language" -"how to"
"primate" AND "communication"
· Two Print Sources From UNC Libraries:
The Origins of Language: What Nonhuman Primates can tell us.
Santa Fe, N.M.: School of American Research Press,
1999. Call Number: QL737.P96 S254 1998
Longley, Alison, Language in Apes?: concepts, communications, controversies: a selective bibliography. Seattle: Primate Information Center, Regional Primate Research Center, University of Washington, 1994. Call Number: QL776.L65 1994
· One Non-Paper Source from UNC Libraries:
Cambell-Jones, Simon and Michael Ambrosino, The First Signs of Washoe, 60
min, (New York: Time Life Video, 1974).
Bodamer, Mark D. and R. Allen Gardener. (2002, March). How Cross-fostered
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Initiate and Maintain Conversations. Journal
of Comparative Psychology [online], 116 (1): 12-26. Available: MEDLINE
[2002, September 5].
Drumm, P., B.T. Gardner and R. Allen Gardener. (1986, Spring). Vocal and Gestural Responses of Cross-fostered Chimpanzees. American Journal of Psychology [online], 99 (1): 1-29. Available: PubMed [2002, September 5].
Hopkins, W.D. and D.A. Leavens. (1998, March). Hand Use and Gestural Communication in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology [online], 112 (1): 95-9. Available: MEDLINE [2002, September 5].
Jensvold, M.L. and R. Allen Gardner. (2000, December). Interactive Use of Sign Language by Cross-fostered Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology [online], 114 (4): 335-46. Available: PubMed [2002, September 5].
Sanders, R.J. (1985, June). Teaching Apes to Ape Language: Explaining the Imitative and Nonimitative Signing of a Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology [online], 99 (2): 197-210. Available: MEDLINE [2002, September 5].
Terrace, H.S., L. A. Pettito, R.J. Sanders and T.G. Bever. (1979, November 23). Can an Ape Create a Sentence? Science [online], 206(4421): 891-902. Available: PubMed [2002, September 5].
Title of Web Page: Primate Language
Web address: http://cognet.mit.edu/MITECS/Articles/savagerumbaugh
Brief Description : Explores the history of apes' capacity for language, beginning
with Darwin's theory of continuity of biology and psychology between primates
and humans and finishing with recent findings that chimpanzee DNA is more
similar to humans' than gorillas'. The page has lots of information about
the history of primate communication exploration, along with biological references
to reasons for such findings.
Source of website: MIT
Title of Web Page: Primate Use of Language
Web address: http://pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/language.htm
Brief Description : Touches upon the history of studying primate language.
The page also talks about the psychology behind training chimps, including
explanations of the roles of classical and operant conditioning. It then talks
about measuring intelligence of primates and theories on their inability to
acquire verbal language. The page also gives brief backgrounds and histories
of famous communicating chimps, such as Washoe and Loulis.
Source of website: Tufts University
Title of Web Page: Planet of the Communicative
Apes
Web address: http://nsf.gov/sbe/nuggets/021/nugget.htm
Brief Description : The site explores the structural similarities of the planum
temporale -the communications-oriented part of the human brain - between chimpanzees
and humans. The page discusses the scientific methods used to measure such
similarities, such as MRI, immunocytochemistry, and PET scans. It also discusses
new evidence of other structural and biological similarities that may lend
information on the capability of chimpanzee's communication.
Source of website: National Science
Foundation
Title of Web Page: Talking With Chimps
Web address: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/4451/TalkWithChimps.html
Brief Description : The page closely follows the experimentation, communication,
and training of famous communication chimps Washoe and Nim Chimpsky. It gives
first-hand accounts of the trials and tribulations of researchers Allen and
Beatrice Gardner and Duane Rumbaugh. The site discusses the different methods
employed by the different researchers in analyzing and training primate communication
through step-by-step analysis.
Source of website: The
Primate's Homepage
Title of Web Page: Language in Apes: How
Much Do They Know and How Much Should We Teach Them
Web address: http://math.uwaterloo.ca/~dmswitze/apelang.html
Brief Description : The page talks about the history of language and compares
it to how apes communicate in the wild. It also touches upon scientific evidence
and theory as to why apes cannot verbally speak. The site examines in detail
the methods used and experimental breakthroughs of famous communication primates,
such as Washoe, Sarah, Lana, Nim, and other ape experiments.
Source of website: University of Waterloo
The Rise and Fall…And Rise Again? of the Dot-coms
TOPIC AREA: Net Trends and Trivia
The late 1990s saw an incredible boom
in what has become to be known as the infamous "dot-com" industry.
A very lucrative economy with a growing interest in technology gave rise to
a trend towards numerous start-up online companies. With Amazon.com as the
leader of the movement, many of these companies saw the opportunity to capitalize
on the low-interest-rate, high-growth trend and get rich quick. However, young,
inexperienced entrepreneurs and poor business planning would prove to be the
downfall of such potentially profitable businesses. "From market highs
in March 2000, Internet stocks had lost 85% of their value by April 2001.
Out of 317 Internet IPOs, only 16 stocks were trading above their offer price,
and only nine above their first-day close price." (1) How could a buisiness
opportunity that seemed so right in the beginning have turned so wrong in
the end?
The most obvious downfall were the young entrepreneurs themselves. With little
revenue generated, valuations were disproportionately high. As a result, the
dot-com entrepreneurs were able to raise money regardless of the business
model they adopted. (2) Poor business strategies, such as favoring immediate
revenue growth over profit and dumping what money they had into expensive
and unproductive advertising, led to most companies running in the red for
most of their short-lived existence. With the technology craze happening all
too fast, new startup companies wanted to strike while the iron was hot, often
focusing on some trendy "idea of the day," instead of profit and
the details of running and successful, long-lasting business. For example,
some planned to sell products online, but had no distribution strategy. (3)
With such little foresight, it was inevitable that this industry that was
flying high at the moment would come crashing down. Eventually the money dried
up and downsizing ultimately resulted in their demise.
However, in the aftermath of the dot-com fallout, the infrastructure for the
next wave of technology is already being laid out. There appears to be a resurgence
of interest in e-commerce that is accompanied by "a wave of sanity."
The new companies are much smaller and slower but seem to "better understand
the capabilities, the limitations, and the true cost of the system they're
installing." (4) In fact, those companies who have managed to hang on
through the worst are beginning to get stronger and make a comeback. Even
though in the first half of 2002, 93 Internet firms shut down, this is a 73%
decline in the number of dot-com bankruptcies since last year. (5) Therefore,
whatever one's view on the dot-com crash, it seems the worst is behind and
there still may be success down the road ahead for the smarter, more business
saavy upstarts of the future.
NOTES:
(1) Damir Tokic. (2002, Summer). What Went Wrong With the Dot-coms? Journal
of Investing [online], v11 i2: 52-5. Available: INFOTRAC [2002, September
5]. (click here for a printable version
of the article)
(2) Ibid
(3) Todd Zeldin. (2002, March). Riding the Ups and Downs of the Technology
Rollercaoster. Journal of Property Management [online], v67 i2: 39-40.
Available: INFOTRAC [2002, September 5]. (click
here for a printable version of the article)
(4) Ibid.
(5) Ibid.
THREE WEBSITES:
Title of Web Page: Is the Dot Com Bust Coming to an End?
Web address:
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/markets/professional/article/0,,5971_1381551,00.html
Brief Description : Examines the recent slowing rate of dot-com companies
shutting down or claiming bankruptcy.
Source of website: Cyber Atlas
Title of Web Page: The Dot.Com Bubble
Burst… New Economy or Old Economy, a Shakeout is a Shakeout
Web address: http://www.ebizchronicle.com/wharton01/29_shakeout.htm
Brief Description : Talks about the history of dot-com companies and follows
their rise and fall.
Source of website: EbizChronicle.com
Title of Web Page: The Dot-Com Crash:Whose
Fault Is it Anyway?
Web address: http://www.allwebarticles.com/articles/1dotcomcrash.html
Brief Description : Speculates who is responsible for the dot-com crash
Source of website: AllWebArticles.com