Washoe light or Washoe dark?

There is some discussion between Maria and Teresa about the chimpanzee subject they are drawing.

...

Maria: I like your soft pencil touch…

Teresa: Mmm. Why you doing yours in pen?

Maria: It’ll show up better.

Teresa: There you go again. Wanting everything in black and white.

Maria: It’s just your subtle shades might not seen on the page and be lost in the gray background.

Teresa: We’ll see, won’t we? Or are you saying you’ve got to shout loudly to be heard in the marketplace?

Washoe goes

Tim and Tom are back at the Blue Angel next day too.

Tim: One word for you. Washoe.

Tom: I know. I heard.

Tim: She knew a lot of words.

Tom: She knew a few signs.

Tim: 250 wasn't bad for a chimp. Someone once said Washoe once signed that she knew many more words than she was ever taught?

Tom: But Steven Pinker didn't believe everything she said.

Tim: You know Beatrix Gardner died at only 61? Relatively speaking, she died younger than Washoe.

Tom: Like a chimpanzee living to a greater age than her human mother?

Tim: Relatively speaking.
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Washoe and Nim Chimpsky

But they can't actually talk. I mean speak human languages.

Well, not having a human larynx is a big disadvantage. Can you swing like a chimp, leap like a leopard? Compared with them your arms and legs are pathetic.

So why do you claim they can learn to communicate?

Take Washoe. A chimp. She must be 40 years old now. She lives in Washington now, but a couple of researchers taught her some gestures based on American Sign Language.

How many words did she learn?

They say she can reliably use around a couple of hundred signs. More than that, she can make up her own.

Do all language people believe this?

Well, there are disbelievers and sceptics. Notably Herbert Terrace who experimented with teaching language to a chimp called Nim Chimpsky. And he reckoned that Nim only used language pragmatically.

Philosophically?

For practical purposes. To get something he wanted.

Meaning humans don't use language to get what they want?

They do. But they also use language to discuss ideas, which hasn't ever been observed among any animal species.
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