Why Chimpanzees Can't Learn Language and Only Humans Can

Reviews / Votes

Herbert S. Terrace, known for his breakthrough work on the ape, Nim Chimpsky, now shines light on language acquisition in human children. In this masterful work, Terrace provides extraordinarily novel ideas about the evolution and development of the human mind and brain. This book will change how you think about human uniqueness. Terrace fills in one of the most important missing links in cognitive science-what it means to be a talking human being, and how we got that way. -- Andrew N. Meltzoff, coauthor of <i>The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind</i> In this work, the distinguished psychologist Herbert S. Terrace illustrates a unique comparative perspective on the nature and evolution of language. -- Charles Yang, author of <i>The Infinite Gift: How Children Learn and Unlearn the Languages of the World</i> Language seems to be a miracle; even our closest relatives, the great apes, lack any capacity for the grammatical structures that make human language unique. Herbert Terrace goes further and shows that chimpanzees can't even learn words. With characteristic clarity, he gives a convincing account of language evolution in Darwinian terms, without appeal to miracles. This is an important new approach to an old and vexed problem.? -- Michael Corballis, author of <i>The Truth About Language: What It Is and Where It Came From</i> Terrace played a very significant role in ape language research. His personal reflections and the conclusions he has drawn about language remain both controversial and relevant. -- Terrence W. Deacon, author of <i>The Symbolic Species: The Coevolution of Language and the Brain</i> The idea that animals can be taught language is perennially appealing, driven by a longing to get into their heads, a desire to challenge human pride, and the misconception that Darwinism predicts that all organisms are the same. But humans are outliers among the primates, with cognitive, social, and linguistic talents that are as outsize as other flamboyant adaptations in the animal kingdom. Herb Terrace, who knows a thing or two about what animals can be taught, restores perspective to this issue in this insightful and wide-ranging reminiscence and analysis. -- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and the author of The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works A provocative and comprehensible book about an important and complex topic. -- David P. Barash * Wall Street Journal * Terrace's evolutionary scenario is evidence-based and cogent. * Natural History Magazine * An incredibly interesting and well-structured book on the evolutionary basis of language. * NHBS *