Chimpanzees and the Innateness Hypothesis

1. It does not follow from their lack of speech, however, that chimpanzees are incapable of language. Perhaps they can acquire grammar like humans if they could only express it some other way.

2. Chimpanzees cannot speak because, unlike Homo sapiens, their vocal cords are located higher in their throats and cannot be controlled as delicately as human vocal cords.

3. A logical candidate for such a species is the chimpanzee, which shares 98.4% of the human genetic code.

4. All of these animals were taught to sign in order to get food, tickling, grooming, toys, and to get out of their cages. The question, then, is: is chimpanzee and gorilla signing language?

5. The obvious alternative is sigh language, since all primates have extremely dexterous hands and sign language is a language. You have probably already read about the regular chimpanzees Washoe and Nim Chimpsky, and the lowland gorilla Koko, all of whom learned to sign and interact very naturally with their trainers.