Aping Language (Themes in the Social Sciences) [Paperback]

Joel Wallman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521406668 | ISBN-13: 978-0521406666 | Publication Date: October 30, 1992

This book is a critique of the experiments of recent years that tried to teach language to apes. The achievements of these animals are compared with the natural development of language, both spoken and signed forms, in children. It is argued that the apes in these studies acquired merely crude simulations of language rather than language itself and that there is no good evidence that apes can acquire a language. A survey of the communication systems of apes and monkeys in nature finds that these systems differ from language in profound ways--language is a uniquely human attribute.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Its strength lies in the overview it provides of the methods, theory, and results of this work, and in its potential to assist in bringing methodological improvement and conceptual clarification to future work on the linguistic abilities of apes and other animal species." American Journal of Primatology

"The strength of this book is that it provides a concise review of the theory, methods, data, and resulting interpretations....Wallman has written a useful summary and critique." American Journal of Physical Anthropology

"A well-written book." E. Delson, Choice

"The outline of Wallman's book is straightforward....His treatment of the controversies surrounding the success of the programs, indeed surrounding the possibility of demonstrating language in nonhumans, is vivid. There is both vitriol and passion here, suggesting that the issues go far beyond the data....Wallman's narrative is both scholarly and entertaining....enjoyable and elegant." Contemporary Psychology

"...a conscientious, rational book that not only reviews the many and varied 'ape language' experiments of the last two decades, but reviews the copntroversy itself." Semiotica

Book Description

This book is a critique of the experiments of recent years that tried to teach language to apes. A survey of the communications systems of apes and monkeys in nature finds these systems differ from language in profound ways because language is a uniquely human attribute.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521406668
• ISBN-13: 978-0521406666
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent work, even for a casual read, September 21, 2010

By 

amohare - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aping Language (Themes in the Social Sciences) (Paperback)

I would hasten to say that even for those outside of the ape-language arena, Dr. Wallman's work represents an engaging introduction to a perennially important field. Before reading his stellar review of the recent attempts to impart language to apes, I could have only imagined the significance of the Sarah Project. This is a review that speaks to both common readers and linguistic experts without compromising the thorough breadth of experience and cutting analysis that academia has come to expect from the Wallman name. This opus stands as evidence of a lost art, a type of scholarship that is nigh impossible to discover in today's centres of learning. I believe 'Aping Language' should inch its way to the professional and personal libraries of those students of learning who value their literacy as much as the essence of their humanity.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Student, July 29, 2001

By 

Daniel E. Knodel (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aping Language (Themes in the Social Sciences) (Hardcover)

I've used this book to base presentations on ape-language research at university seminars. Having read every work that I that know of that partians to the subject, I believe there quite simply is no more comprehensive review of the research in one single book. One who is interested in the evolutionary origins of language will be offered an excellent start by reading Wallman's chapter on the history of the ape-language controversy. The rest of your investigation will unfold from there. Overall, I would highly recommend this work to anyone whom seeks to achieve a foothold in the literiture.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wallman Slays Sacred Cow With Rarest Blade of Scholarship, September 17, 2005

By 

fred ricardo "baona" (Venezuela) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aping Language (Themes in the Social Sciences) (Hardcover)

Everybody "knows" that apes can talk; it's a "fact" at the base of a great deal of popular media and liberal arts science on the subject of how humanlike nonhumans are. People who regard homo sapiens as somehow unique are regularly battered by the overwhelming impression generated in the last generation that language, long held the most species-specific behavior of man, was approximated, at least in experiments, by chimps or gorillas.
Wallman explodes this myth by scientifically scrutinizing the research conducted on apes and by clearly distinguishing the features of human language from the mode of communication exhibited by the former. Primatologists have simply not done their ethological observations well, and have apparently neglected sound linguistic studies altogether. One wonders that the insatiable need of academics for grants and iconoclastic prestige hasn't infected their primatological findings. Wallman deserves to be compulsory reading in an introductory class on animal ethology, primatology, philosophy of science, liguistics and physical anthropology.