Comparing two-symbol utterances produced by language-trained apes and human children
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This project investigates how human children and language-trained apes spontaneously combine meaning components in their early two-symbol productions. Many theories treat compositionality as a central feature of human cognition and language, yet comparative work suggests that nonhuman primates can represent rich relational structure and, in some contexts, learn to combine symbols. By comparing minimal combinatorial productions in young children and language-trained apes, the present study asks what kinds of meanings each group expresses, how those meaning components are linearly ordered, and how productive those combinations are.
Institution: Harvard University
Language: English
Topic: Primate Behavior and Ecology
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7160623790