Embedding of language in culture

Georgia State University, Atlanta GA

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Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Embedding of Language in Culture investigates a) the cross- generational effects of language and culture in a second-generation bonobo reared in a bi-cultural environment, b) the potential of a culturally based approach to produce syntax, art and musical capabilities in linguistically competent apes living in a Pan paniscus/Homo sapiens culture and c) the capacity of vocal transmission of symbolic messages in linguistically competent bonobos. This research emphasizes a critical assumption: meaning cannot exist outside a socio-cultural context. This assumption is predicated upon 1) the Kanzi research which reveals Kanzi is able to "mean" in a variety of cultural ways and 2) the Panzee and Panbanisha research, demonstrating the experience of rearing and its attendant enculturation is a more powerful variable than biology. This research features innovation through supplementation of empirical methods with qualitative techniques.