Apes Are Talking

　　Koko: Did you hear what Dr. Terrace said about us? He claims we cannot create our own sentences. Instead, he says, we react to clues accidentally given by our trainer. He says we are like the famous horse Clever Hans. Hans was supposed to be able to solve arithmetic problems and then stamp out the answers with his hoof（蹄子).

　　If the horse was asked what two plus two was, he would stamp four times. Although the trainer did not realize it, says Dr. Terrace, the horse was picking up clues from the trainer as to when to stop stamping.

　　Washoe: I disagree with Dr. Terrace. My trainer, Dr. R. Allen Gardner and his wife, Beatrice, have seen me talking in sign language to other chimps.

　　Koko: I heard that Dr. Terrace became unimpressed with ape language after studying a chimp named Nim. Dr. Terrace found that Nim usually made signs only after being prompted（提示）by his trainer. Yet when children learn a language, they start using many words on their own. Nim usually did not do this. Even when Nim did use additional signs, he did not add any new information. The signs (words) were repeated over and over again.

　　Washoe: My trainer says that Nim wasn't given much of a chance to act on his own. He had so many different trainers, he became confused. That is not the best way to get chimps to communicate.

　　Koko: I'll never understand humans. But the big question is: Can we really use language?

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