Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id RAA01349 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 31 May 2000 17:48:56 +0100 Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 09:48:20 -0700 From: Bill Spight <bspight@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: Primate Rights To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Message-id: <39354253.496CBC1D@pacbell.net> Organization: Saybrook Graduate School X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.61 [en]C-PBI-NC404 (Win95; I) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit X-Accept-Language: ja,en References: <Pine.OSF.4.21.0005311108110.22862-100000@tracy.umd.edu> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Dear Lawrence,
> I wonder why chimpanzes would not have grammar in the wild. Is the
> suggestion that they 'learn' grammatical construction from their human
> contacts?
Last I heard, the evidence for syntax among chimpanzees in the
lab was problematical. (I am not current, however.) One problem,
as I recall, is that examples of grammatical signings are
typically extracted from a flurry of signs and gestures, which
include ungrammatical signings as well.
A friend has told me that there is some evidence, using computer
screens, for spatial, as opposed to temporal grammar.
Best,
Bill
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