Lana

Chimp Lana, when having to go through the same round of questions time after time, surprised her trainer Timothy Gill: "Please Tim move out of room". A sentence "Which was considered very remarkable because she was never trained to use 'out of' in such a context". Lana knew more than crude tests were designed to measure. In this conversation Lana asks the same Tim for a word she doesn't know.

Lana: ?Time give Lana this can.
Tim: Yes [He gives her an empty can.]
Lana: ?Time give Lana this can.
Tim:[replied he had no can, it was given to her]
Lana: ?Time give Lana this bowl.
Tim: Yes [He gives her an empty bowl.]
Lana: ?Shelly [Asking for somebody else.]
Tim: No Shelly.
Lana: ?Time give Lana this bowl.
Lana: [Erasing the previous sentence.]
Lana: ?Time give Lana name of-this.
Tim: Box name of this.
Lana: Yes.
Lana: ?Time give Lana this box.
Tim: [Gives the box and the conversation repeats with a new word, 'cup' .]

Nim Chimpsky

Nim Chimpsky in conversation with Mary Wambach who was one of the few in the Nim project who used ASL for her ordinary communication needs. Her logs were more reliable then everyone else's, she also read Nim very different, she saw him creating sentences rather than combining words.

Nim: [Looking at a magazine] Toothbrush there, me toothbrush.
Mary: Later brush teeth.
Nim: Sleep toothbrush.
Mary: Later ... now sit relax
Nim: [Seeing a picture of a tomato]. There eat. Red me eat.
Mary: There more eat! What that?
Nim: Berry, give me, eat Berry.
Mary: Good eat. You have berry in house.
Nim: Come ... There.
Mary: What there? [Leads me into the house]
Nim: Give eat there, Mary, Me eat. [At refrigerator]
Mary: What eat?
Nim: Give me berry.

Panbanisha

Bonobo Panbanisha is always willing to strike a deal with her keeper Liz Pugh.

Panbanisha: Milk, sugar.
Liz: No, Panbanisha, I'd get in a lot of trouble if I'd gave you tea with sugar.
Panbanisha: Give milk, sugar.
Liz: No, Panbanisha, I'd get in a lot of trouble.
Panbanisha: Want milk, sugar.
Liz: No, Panbanisha, I'd get in so much trouble. Here's some milk.
Panbanisha: Milk, sugar. Secret.

Kanzi

Kanzi, the ape over the brink of literature, quoted from a book cynical towards his linguistic understanding. The argument is that the words do not connect into sentences and that the trainer struggles to make them comprehensive. The key to this conversation is that it was transcribed from a TV documentary and the human is explaining to the camera what is happening while talking to Kanzi. It makes Kanzi look droll.

Kanzi: Want milk. Milk.
Human: I know, you always want some milk when you're planning to be good.
Kanzi: Key. Matada. Good.
Human: Oh, you want the key to Matada, and you're going to be good. Well, I'm glad to hear that. I am glad to hear that.

Booee

Booee had his brain cut in two when he was very little, later he was under care of Roger Fouts, after that he ended up at the primate research lab. More than a decade later Fouts was allowed to visit Booee in the presence of a TV camera. Out of context this little conversation amounts to little but the public responded in great numbers to the humanity of Booee. Who was soon after released from the lab because of it.

Roger [Approaching Booee's cage uttering gentle chimpanzee greetings.]
Booee [Smiling.]
Roger: Hi, Booee, You remember?
Booee: Booee, Booee, Me Booee.
Roger: Yes, you Booee, you Booee.
Booee: Give Me Food, Roger!

Fouts added: "Booee not only remembered that I always carried raisins for him, but he used the nickname he had invented for me twenty-five years earlier. Instead of tugging the ear lobe for ROGER, he flicked his finger off the ear. This was like calling someone Rodg' instead of Roger'. Seeing him sign my old nickname floored me. I had forgotten it, but Booee hadn't."

Nyota

Nyota is a young bonobo and he knows that Bill (William Fields) gave all the blueberries to Kanzi the day before. Nyota also knows that Bill knows that Bill always asks Nyota if he wants a blueberry because Bill and Kanzi both know that blueberries are his favourite snack. Nyota has every right to be angry, but no worry Bill, Noyta has it all sorted out.

Nyota: Blueberries yesterday. [Looking towards Kanzi.]
Nyota: Blueberries grapes today? [Looking expectantly at Bill.]
Bill: [Takes blueberries out of freezer.]
Nyote: No Ice.
Bill: I'm sorry but I don't have fresh blueberries. They are all gone.
Nyota: Childside childside, childside childside. [Another location in the building.]
Bill: [Had just come from Childside and there was nobody there.]
Nyota: Sue.
Bill: Sue's on childside?
Nyota: Talk talk talk Sue now.
Bill: You want me to call Sue on the telephone?
Nyota: Peep-yes.
Bill: [Calls Sue, who tells the blueberries are under way, she had spent the previous night with Nyota and had ordered some for him.]

Washoe

Unknown George asks Washoe want he wants to eat only to find out that Washoe, who hadn't ridden in a car for two year remembered perfectly well where oranges come from: the supermarke

George: What you want?
Washoe: Orange, orange.
George: No more orange, what you want?
Washoe: Orange.
George: [Angry] No more orange, what you want?
Washoe: You go car gimme orange. Hurry.

Washoe and Tatu

Apes love to paint and they quickly develop their own personal style. When in command of a language an ape can title his or hers own work. In this learned conversation Roger Fouts and chimps Washoe and Tatu discuss their artistic sensibilities.

Fouts: Tatu likes painting?
Tatu: [Rushes to the painting room]
Fouts: What colour do you like best Tatu?
Tatu: Black, Black!
Fouts: And you, Washoe, what colour?
Washoe: Red, Red!
Fouts: Why?
Washoe: Beautiful, beautiful.
Fouts: Do you prefer to paint or to to eat?
Tatu: Eat/paint, eat/paint, Painting good!

Chantek

Visitors of an ape research facility can be really depressed afterwards because the ape refused to talk to them. Journalist Steve Wise fares somewhat better in his meeting with researcher Lyn Miles and orangutan Chantek. However, an ape is an ape, an hour after this conversation took place Chantek nearly bit of the top of Wise's finger.

Chantek: You, You, You, You, Lyn.
Lyn: Secret.
Chantek: Where?
Lyn: Over there.
Chantek: Fruit Fruit.
Lyn: New friend. Good man bring food.
Lyn: He’ll like that. [To Steve]
Lyn: Steve. [Clenching her fist on her forehead].
Chantek: Steve. Steve.
Lyn: [Gives Chantek an orange.]
Chantek: Steve.
Lyn: He wants you to give it to him. [To Steve, she begins to play “Simon Says.”]
Lyn: Simon says ‘clap,’.
Chantek: [claps.]
Lyn: Simon says ‘pat head.’
Chantek: [Pats his hat.]
Lyn: Simon says ‘pat right shoulder with left hand.’
Chantek: [Pats his right shoulder with his left hand.]

Panbanisha

From polite salon conversation to high definition scenario: a small fragment from a total transcription of a daily conversation with bonobo Panbanisha.

[] are overlaps
= are latches
(0.0) are pauses, indicating the length
(.) is a short pause
? is rising intonation
. is falling intonation, as in the end of a sentence
, is continuing intonation


1. PB: CARRY YES
2. SSR: you want Russ to carry you? ((quiet laughter)) instead of the dog. (1.0)
3. Panbanisha i’m going to tell you something (4.5)
4. Russ is going to CARRY the DOG because the DOG is SCARED of
5. PANBANISHA. the dog is scared of you.
6. (1.8)
7. PB: CARRY ((Panbanisha points to the lexigram on the keyboard))
8. (0.5) ((After this first pause, the keyboard speaks out the word)) (0.5)
9. SSR: Panbanisha, we could try to (.) pad the dog and be GOOD.
10. do you wanna try to be [good] to the dog?
11. PB: [vocalises] ((short, fairly quiet peep with one pitch))
12. ((PB takes SSR by the hand and walks some steps towards the dog and Russ))
13. SSR: now hold my hand, we’ll go, no ((SSR pulls Panbanisha back towards her)
14. we have to go (.) panbanisha ((laughter)) we have to go SLOW
15. we have to go SLOW over to the DOG, we have to be GOOD. (.) okay (0.4)
16. maybe we can let the dog come over to see you.(0.1) you don’t think so?
17. you think we can come over there? (1.0)
18. ((SSR gets up and grabs Panbanisha by her hands))
19. okay we’re gonna go, we’re not gonna hit the dog,
20. if you don’t go slow, you can’t go over.
21. ((they go toward the dog, SSR holding Panbanisha’s hand.
22. About 4 steps. Panbanisha acts roughly and the dog is barking))
23. Russ: be good heyh
24. ((Panbanisha is being pulled back by SSR))
25. SSR: i don’t think Panbanisha is, (0.2) i think it’s just not gonna work

Washoe

To be able to say the same thing in different ways in an important indicator of linguistic fluency. Research assistant Susan 'accidentally' steps on Washoe's favourite doll to see how Washoe responds.

Up Susan
Susan up
Mine please up
Gimme baby
Please shoe
More mine
Up please
Please up
More up
Baby down
Shoe up
Baby up
Please more up
You up

Bow

To many critics ape-language is by definition a no-brainer, a self-delusional pseudo-science or worse. They are wrong but the subject deserves the best minds and needs the sharpest critics to raise the standard. Aya Katz' DIY experiment in home-raising chimp Bow clearly falls in the fraud category. Her claim that Bow figured how to spell both English and Hebrew by 'deciphering' Katz' own brand of lexigrams is at best unsubstantiated. Still, pseudo-ape language is part of PrimatePoetic as a fantastical literature made real.

Eden: Come back here.
Bow: 5.
Eden: 5 what? I'm not going to give them to you until you tell me something about them. Bow. Do you want them or not?
Bow: G - R
Eden: Yeah, what's next?
Bow: A
Eden: Then what?
Bow: P - E
Eden: Okay, I am going to get them.
Eden: Bow, that's enough, come on. Come here, sit, what colour?
Bow: R - D
Eden: Try again. Come here, sit, what colour?
Bow: R - E - D
Eden: How many are there? How many?
Bow: 5
Eden: What colour's the bowl?
Bow: B - L (then he points over to the U and looks at the grape)
Eden: No, you didn't finish, come on.
Bow: B - L - U - E

Jennie

Douglas Preston condensed the experiences of several home-reared apes, Washoe and Lucy Temerlin especially, into 'Jennie', a novel that was later turned into a Walt Disney tearjerker. The following is a dialogue between chimp Jennie and the vicar who lives next door.

Myself: Jennie, what God?
Jennie: Up.
Myself: Up where?
Jennie: Up up.
Myself: Who God?
Jennie: God God God.
Myself: Who God?
Jennie: Up.
Myself: No, who God?
Jennie: Love.
Myself: Correct! (Then I gave her a cookie).
Jennie: God love God love God love.
Myself: Who Jesus?
Jennie: Jesus Jesus.
Myself: No, Jennie, who Jesus?
Jennie: Jennie cookie.
Myself: Who Jesus?
Jennie: Tickle Jennie.
Myself: Who Jesus?
Jennie: Jesus tickle Jennie.
Myself: Jesus God's son.
Jennie: Jesus.
Myself: Who son of God?
Jennie: Jesus cookie tickle.
Myself: Who Jesus?
Jennie: God's son God's son.

Washoe

Apes never produce language spontaneously” the naysayers say. To the embarrassment of her trainers Washoe proved them wrong with her swearing. Once she learned the word 'dirty' for faeces she began adding it to anything she did not like. To be called a bug by Washoe is not meant to flatter either. Hidden in the archives there must be much more...

Dirty Monkey
Dirty Roger
Dirty Jack Gimme Drink
Black bugs [other chimpanzees]

Koko

Gorilla Koko swears a lot as well. The following is an argument between Koko and researcher Kathy Ransom:

Cathy: What's this? [Pointing Koko to a poster picture of Koko.]
Koko: Gorilla.
Cathy: Who gorilla?
Koko: Bird.
Cathy: You bird?
Koko: You. [For Koko bird is an insult.]
Cathy: Not me, you bird.
Koko: Me gorilla.
Cathy: Who bird?
Koko: You nut. [Koko switches bird and nut from descriptive to pejorative terms by changing the position in which the sign is made from the front to the side of her face.]

[After a little more name-calling Koko gave up the battle.]

Koko: Darn me good.
Koko: Bad Bad Bad [While walking away.]

Washoe, Koko, Chantek

Apes invent their own words when they need to say something but don't know the word for it. The value of these for human-ape pidgin does not need to be spelled out. Here are a few examples.

Chimpanzee Washoe:

Drink fruit (watermelon)
Open drink food (refrigerator)
Water bird (swan)
Dirty good (toilet)

Gorilla Koko:

Elephant baby (Pinocchio doll)
Bottle match (cigarette lighter)
Finger bracelet (ring)
White tiger (zebra)
Eye hat (Halloween mask)
Nipples (humans)
Comfortable hole bye bye (death).

Orang-utan Chantek:

Eye drink (contact lens solution)
No-teeth (to show that he would not use his teeth during rough play)
Dave missing finger (for a university employee missing a finger)
Orang-utan Person (for himself)
Orange dog (for uncultured other orang-utans).

Michael

Can a gorilla tell a story? According to the trainers gorilla Michael this is his story of the murder of his mother by poachers.

Squash meat gorilla. Mouth tooth. Cry sharp-noise loud. Bad think-trouble look-face. Cut/neck lip (girl) hole.

The Goodies

The infiltration of apish in humanish is especially strong in pop music. In the 1975 song 'Funky Gibbon' by The Goodies the apish Ooo-chorus provided the song its hit-potential. But you do need to hear it to get this. The title is unfortunate as the call is clearly based on a chimp vocalization.

Come on everybody
It's gibbon time

We're the Goodies
How do you do?
We've just been down to the zoo
We saw a monkey in a cage
Doing a dance
That could be the rage
It's not hard
So let's all do the funky gibbon
Ooo, ooo, ooo

Do, do, do the funky gibbon
(The funky gibbon)
We are here to show you how
Ooo, ooo, ooo
Ooo, ooo, ooo, the funky gibbon

Waoh Aach-Aach

Making use only of scientifically verified ape call transcriptions this poem is to be executed by a human performer for an ape audience. By mirroring their own language back to them it is hoped the apes will be startled into a new appreciation for the richness of their own tongue.

Poem for a Chimpanzee

waoh aach-aach
ohoh hoo-hoo
eech eech eech eech hoo-hoo
aich-aich huu hoo-hoo
waaa waa waaa waow
waaa waaa waa aach-aach
Huu-huu huu huu eech eech

oo .. oo

huh-huh huh-huh huu-huu aich-aich waaa
uu huh-huh huu-huu aich-aich waaa waoh waoh
waaa waoh waoh aach-aach waaa waaa waaa waaa waaa

Gilgamesh in Lexigrams

A literary culture by apes will not immediately be forthcoming, but PrimatePoetics has nevertheless been trying to break the ice with our translation of Gilgamesh, the oldest known human story, in lexigrams.

Panbanisha

Bonobo Panbanisha desperately wanted to go outside but was not allowed because of the cold. Suddenly she took up chalk and asked to go outside by writing down the lexigrams: 'A-Frame' (a hut in the woods), 'Flatrock' (a place in the woods), 'Colour' (the colour of the jacket Panbanisha must wear when going outside). She had invented writing!