Abstract
The paper examines how language educators and researchers continue to debate how language is developed in humans. The paper further examines the differences between humans and other higher primates regarding language. The paper explores how, in order to gain more insight on how language evolved in early humans, researchers closely study language acquisition in primates.

From the Paper
"What Stokoe finds most interesting is the turning of the head, just as signers of American Sign Language turn their head and gaze to mark a change from one part of a complex structure to another. Concludes Stokoe: Children are fortunate that elementary sign language preceded spoken language. As people get older, they forget how they used their bodies, eyes and heads. However, once speech is acquired at another stage and a person is fully articulate, it is still possible to go to "Nevada or Oklahoma and enter into conversation with a chimpanzee." "

Tags:evolution, brain, chimpanzee, Washoe, sign, gesture

Abstract
This paper addresses a number of different language experiments that have been performed with all four species of great apes - gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos, and the advantages, disadvantages, and relative success of each, including conducted experiments. The author discusses the physical limitations of the apes, the advantages of using sign language as opposed to keyboard and symbol-based language, and criticisms brought up by various skeptics. The paper also mentions other types of cognitive activities in which the apes have participated, including painting and learning a system of economic exchange.

From the paper:

"The Koko Project is currently the longest running and most successful of all the ape language projects. Patterson's goal was for Koko [the gorilla] to learn 200 signs ? she now knows over a thousand, and understands at least 2,000 words of spoken English. She asks questions, she lies, she tells stories, she uses the negative, she uses and understands abstract words like love, hate, and death, and she even tells jokes. One of the most famous incidents involves a conversation between Koko and one of her teachers regarding the color of her blanket. As she was getting ready to go to bed, the teacher asked Koko what color the blanket was. Koko responded "red," even though the blanket was white. The teacher admonished her and asked her again, refusing to believe that Koko would make such a simple mistake. Still, Koko responded "red," and repeated it several times. The teacher was perplexed. Then Koko pulled a tiny piece of red lint off the blanket, pointed to it, and signed "red," and started laughing her deep, breathy, gorilla laugh. Humor, then, is another quality we humans can no longer claim for ourselves alone."

Tags:allen, ann, beatrice, bonobo, chimpanzee, david, fouts, francine, gardner, gorilla, herbert, koko, language, lyn, miles, orangutan, patterson, penny, premack, primate, roger, rumbaugh, savage, sign, sue, terrace

Abstract
This paper explores the origins of language based on primate studies and other research in the field of psycholinguistics. First, the concept of a protolanguage is introduced and discussed. Then, the paper describes the development of the field of psycholinguistics, listing its six main components. Finally, the paper presents various research studies that have been conducted in this field which have to do with the communication ability of apes and chimpanzees, which ultimately changed the concept of language formation. Several of these studies are cited and described in-depth.

From the Paper
" The concept of a "protolanguage" has its roots early in history. For example, it is found in the concept of the "adamic" language, or the language God gave to Adam and how Adam was then able to give names to all beings. Protolanguage is defined by Bickerton (1990) as a form of expression where words are solely grouped in brief utterances with lack of grammatical support. The "language" does not include inflection, sequence of ungrammatical words, and long-range dependency. The term describes the specific properties of numerous forms of physical processes with memory effect. Protolanguage messages are semantically complex and agrammatical. They are holistic, which means that a complete message is uniquely associated with an arbitrary form, not made out of smaller recombinable units of meaning (Wray, 2000). "

Tags:protolanguage, psycholinguistics, primates

Abstract
This paper presents an overview of studies on language acquisition and the relevance of critical periods of learning. The paper reports on studies done on the brain and actual learning situations, which have shed light on this topic and the implications of these studies.

From the Paper
"The most concentrated period of language development is during the first three years of a human's life when the brain is developing and maturing. The first stages of communication take place right after birth when an infant learns that a cry will bring responses such as nourishment. The newborns also start recognizing essential sounds in their immediate environments such as their parent's voice. As they become older, children begin to learn the structure of their language. By six months of age, most recognize the basic sounds of their native language and are able to make simple repetitive sounds or phonemes such as "ma ma" or "ba ba." By the age of two, they can form short sentences and recognize symbols such as pictures in a book. By three or four, they can clearly make themselves understood, understand concepts that are near them or out of sight, and even read a letter or two or short words (ibid)."

Tags:teaching, progress, abilities, primates, signals, grammatical, rules, understand, reading, writing

Abstract
The paper provides a literature review on the evolution of language in humans and primates that explores why man is overtly superior to non-Homo sapiens. The paper reveals current findings that have demonstrated that chimpanzees can communicate verbally. The paper proposes a study that will identify brain activities occurring in chimpanzees and localize areas involved in the production of verbal language.

Outline:
Review of Related Literature
Objective of the Proposed Study
Study Design

From the Paper
"Numerous studies have been conducted to further understand the unique ability of man to use language as a tool for communication. Common issues have been attempted to answer by developmental scientists and psychologist with regards to the evolution of language in humans and primates (Pinker and Jackendoff, 2004). One of these issues is to discern which components of language are learned from the environment, and which are innate in man and other species. The influence of one's external surroundings - education system, interaction with others, and ability to pick up a new language system - has been dissected. At the same time, the biological and neurological characteristics of man have been investigated to understand why man is overtly superior to non-Homo sapiens. These characteristics innate in man must be contributory to the development of a highly sophisticated language system."

Tags:brain, speech, semantic, signals, sounds, gestures

Abstract
This paper is composed of annotated bibliographies and a literature review of ten different research articles dealing with the acquisition of nonverbal, gestural, or sign languages. It addresses non-verbal language as a first language and a second language, as well as non-verbal language and symbolic communication systems in non-human primates and prehuman ancestors.

From the Paper
"Sharon Begley's main point in this article is that "the human brain is wired for gestural communication" just as it is for spoken language, from a nativist perspective. She draws on examples from apes who have learned signed languages, deaf-mute children who have invented their own languages in the absence of an established sign language, and the fact that blind people gesture at the same rate as sighted people. She cites studies of wild bonobos who use symbolic gesture to communicate with each other, and deaf children who created a signed language with more complex grammatical structures than the spoken language in their environment."

Tags:ape, asl, australopithecine, bonobo, chimpanzee, communication, gestural, sign, symbolic

Abstract
This paper argues that higher mammals like primates, dolphins and whales are capable of and have evolved a complex language of their own. Towards this, the paper looks at the recent research done regarding the "whistling" and other auditory communication among dolphins. In arguing that this "whistling" constitutes and fulfills the functions of language, the paper uses the framework on the syntactic structures and the various aspects of language. Through an application of Chomsky's criteria, this paper argues that dolphins have evolved a communication system made of whistling sounds that serve many of the purposes of human language.

From the Paper
"For Chomsky, human language is characterized first and foremost by structural principles like grammar, an underlying system of rules that govern the communication exchange. By understanding the rules that govern this communication, humans are able to develop a "creative ability" that allows them to speak or understand sentences that they have not heard previously (Chomsky 19-21)."

Tags:exchange, whistling, mammal, whale

Abstract
This is a comparison essay between the cultures of humans and primates. Multiple areas of similarities and differences are discussed, including social relationships, learned behaviors, tool-making, food-finding, language systems, and mating and kinship strategies.

From the Paper
"There are many big differences between primates and human culture. Studies of primates have revealed some similarities to humans, however. Scientists used to believe that learned behavior was the important divide between humans and other animals, but now they have found that monkeys and apes also depend on learning. Humans and other primates have differences in degree of learned behavior rather than kind of learned behavior. Observations show that monkeys learn from first-hand experience, but that, in contrast, humans learn much more. For example, humans learn to make and use tools to a much greater extent than chimpanzees and orangutans do."

Tags:primates, humans, culture

Abstract
There are a number of ethical questions regarding the use of animals for biomedical research and particularly the use of the primates who are closest to humans genetically and who have been shown to have capacity for language and reason. Even if it is determined that humans have the right to use animals to further their own purposes then the question arises as to when and for what reason is the suffering or death of an animal justified. Also there is great debate on the validity of research that rests on the premise that primates such as chimps are close enough to humans to give accurate information. As new methods such as computer modeling and cell and tissue cultures are developed, they are showing higher levels of accuracy for some tests.

Tags:primates, in, research

Abstract
This paper discusses how research on memory in non-human primates has demonstrated remarkable similarities and abilities in both humans and other primates. It looks at how non-human primates have brains similar to our own and it has been demonstrated that they can be conditioned and trained in certain areas of knowledge such as, sign language, that have traditionally been thought of as skills only human beings possess. It also examines how research on non-human primates focuses on tasks such as, object recognition, and categorization skills, and compares them to how humans perform on the same tasks.

From the Paper
"One approach is called the Comparative Cognition approach. Animal studies conducted from this approach focus on similar behaviors in animals and humans in order to determine similarities and differences in motivation, and meaning of the behaviors. Rilling and Neiworth argue that Comparative Cognition acts as an intermediary between theories of cognitive functioning and memory that are biased towards the study of memory in humans, and theories that focus entirely on memory in animals (Rilling, and Neiworth, 1986). Another perspective by which memory is studied in non-human primates is the biological appoach in which issues regarding biology and memory in animals are studied. Finally, memory in animals can be studied in terms of the Information Processing approach, an approach that focuses on how either humans, or animals process information. "

Tags:object, recognition, categorization, skills, Comparative, Cognition