Kanzi: A new beginning

Abstract

Ape language research has been marked by constantly shifting demands made by those who feel that only human beings can acquire language. Kako (1999) continues in this tradition, but his paper marks a significant shift. For Kako concedes that Kanzi possesses rudimentary syntactic skills; but he questions whether Kanzi possesses morphosyntax. Rather than searching, yet again, for some linguistic element that Kanzi has not mastered, we feel it would be more productive, for reasons we explore, to focus now on what exactly Kanzi can do and how this came about.