Glasersfeld E. von (1977) The Yerkish language and its automatic parser. In: Rumbaugh D. M. (ed.) Language learning by a chimpanzee. Academic Press, New York: 91–130.
Excerpt: Yerkish is an artificial language that was designed for the specific purpose of exploring the linguistic potential of nonhuman primates. It was designed under a number of constraints, both theoretical and practical. In what follows I shall try to show which aspects of the language were determined by these initial practical constraints and which by the theory underlying its design. Since the language was created at the same time as the computer system that monitors all the communication events for which it is used, there will inevitably be some overlap in the description of the language and that of the automatic sentence analyzer, or parser. Also, since the grammar we are using is a correlational grammar, i.e., one that takes into account the semantic aspects of combinatorial patterns (unlike traditional systems of grammar, which tend to consider syntactic structures quite apart from semantics), the description of the lexicon and that of the grammar will have to merge at several points. Nevertheless, this chapter will be articulated into relatively independent sections dealing with the word signs (lexigrams), the meaning and grammatical classification of word signs, combinatorial patterns, the parsing system, and, finally, a brief application of the concept of grammatical ity to a sample of Lana’s output.
Glasersfeld E. von, Warner H., Pisani P., Rumbaugh D., Gill T. V. & Bell C. L. (1973) A computer mediates communication with a chimpanzee. Computers and Automation 22(7): 3–6.
Rumbaugh D. M., Gill T. V. & Glasersfeld E. von (1976) La lectura y el completado do oraciones, realizados por un chimpance. In: Sanchez de Zavala V. (ed.) Sobre el lenguaje de los antropoides. Sigle Veintiuno, Madrid: 137–146.
Rumbaugh D. M., Gill T. V., Glasersfeld E. von, Warner H. & Pisani P. (1975) Conversations with a chimpanzee in a computer-controlled environment. Biological Psychiatry 10(6): 627–641.
The linguistic-type skills of a young chimpanzee (Pan) acquired in a computer-controlled language-training situation are reviewed. Those skills include facile acquisition of vocabulary, object naming, color naming, appropriate use of “yes” and “no” in response to certain questions, and conversation. In conversations the subject has formulated novel sentences and without special training has asked that objects be named, whereupon requests were made that they be given to her. These findings are interpreted in terms of how enriched environments can serve to bring forth novel communication skills in the chimpanzee, which is otherwise alinguistic; how the challenge of the environment can serve to limit manifest intelligence; and how a cognitive, rather than the traditional stimulus-response, framework is required for understanding the communication skills and psychological processes of the chimpanzee.
Rumbaugh D. M., Glasersfeld E. von, Gill T. V., Warner H., Pisani P., Brown J. V. & Bell T. V. (1975) The language skills of a young chimpanzee in a computer-controlled training situation. In: Tuttle R. H. (ed.) Socioecology and psychology of primates. Mouton, The Hague: 391–402.
Rumbaugh D. M., Glasersfeld E. von, Warner H., Pisani P. & Gill T. V. (1974) Lana (chimpanzee) learning language: A progress report. Brain and Language 1: 205–212. Fulltext at https://cepa.info/1319