The Lawrence Jacobsen Library
DVD 0013 2004 Chimp talk

DVD 0013 2004 Chimp talk
Films for the Humanities and Sciences [DVD; col., sd.; 14 min.: 2004]

Explores the controversial issue of language use by apes with primatologist Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Dr. Laura Ann Petitto. The results of Savage-Rumbaugh’s 20-year study with chimpanzees reveal that they can use language with the astounding accuracy of a two-year-old human, which includes a rudimentary syntactical ability. However, Petitto’s research indicates that humans have a cognitive predisposition for language lacking in chimps, which leads to the conclusion that although apes communicate by associating symbols with objects and actions, they do not have language abilities in the way that humans do.