Computer-Controlled Teaching Instrumentation for Linguistic Studies with the Great Apes

A minicomputer has been interfaced with keyboards, visual display projectors, and vending devices, forming a 24 hour/day teaching instrumentation system for linguistic studies with a chimpanzee. Employing visual, geometric word-symbols with a 12-element construction (9 elements and 3 colors) a 4 year old female chimpanzee over a 2 year period has learned 70-80 words which she uses productively in numerous sentences to gain most of her sustenance, entertainment, and companionship (human). The computer evaluates her inputs for proper syntax and mediates in conversations between her and the experimenters. All interchanges are recorded.