Kanzi's Primal Language: The Cultural Initiation of Primates into Language [Hardcover]

Sue Savage-Rumbaugh's work on the language capabilities of the bonobo Kanzi has intrigued the world because of its far-reaching implications for understanding the evolution of the human language. This book takes the reader behind the scenes of the filmed language tests. It argues that while the tests prove that Kanzi has language, the even more remarkable manner in which he originally acquired it - spontaneously, in a culture shared with humans - calls for a re-thinking of language, emphasizing its primal cultural dimensions.Acknowledgements Kanzi Acquires Language in a Forest in Georgia Design Features of Language Ambiguous Human Culture What Does It Mean to Study Language? Summary: The Catalogue of Design Features Appendix 1: The Apes Appendix 2: The Keyboard Notes Bibliography Index

'This book caused me to think in exciting new ways about language and its evolution. It represents a groundbreaking addition to the literature on language, situated right at the intersection of a number of disciplines, ranging from anthropology to psychology to linguistics to neuroscience - and of course, philosophy.' Barbara J. King, College of William & Mary, USA

'It has been said that language theorists tend to head for the door on those rare occasions in which Wittgenstein is brough into a lecture. I think Kanzi's Primal Language is just the thing to open their minds to how the kind of conceptual investigation pioneered by Wittgenstein might bear importantly on their interests. The book should also be of interest to philosophers of science, in its provocative challenge to our normal scientific culture...As for those of us who are called upon to interpret and teach Wittgenstein, I believe we will be able to find in it, at the very least, many fresh and illuminating examples to illustrate his ideas and methods.' - William H. Brenner, Philosophical Investigations