Aping Language
by Joel Wallman
Joel Wallman’s book is very important because it shows, really convincingly, that animals do not have language, and that language is unique to human beings. He looks in detail at all of the ape language studies and analyses their methods and conclusions and all the published data and he concludes that, despite years and years of tutelage on the part of very dedicated individuals – trying to teach sign language to Washoe the chimpanzee or Chantek the orangutan or Koko the gorilla, or Kanzi the bonobo, etc, none of them succeed.
