308 | Great Apes and Language Research is the only uniquely human component of the faculty of language This capacity allows us to produce an, in principle, infinite number of combinations with a limited set of elements For example, any possible longest sentence can still be made longer by adding “Mary thinks that ” (Hauser et al., 2002) Some commentators have suggested that the linguistic capacities of nonhuman great apes have resulted in redefining language in terms of what distinguishes humans from nonhuman apes, thus keeping language by definition beyond the reach of nonhuman apes We may only wonder how important recursion will become in language definitions during the coming years Further Reading Candland, D K 1993 Feral children & clever animals: Reflections on human nature New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press Cavalieri, P., & Singer, P (Eds.) 1993 The great ape project: Equality beyond humanity London: Fourth Estate Fouts, R., & Mills, S T 1997 Next of kin: My conversations with chimpanzees New York: Avon Books Gardner, R A., & Gardner, B T 1969, August 15 Teaching sign language to a chimpanzee Science, 165, 664–672 Gardner, R A., & Gardner, B T 1989 Crossfostered chimpanzees: I Testing vocabulary In P Heltne & L Marquardt (Eds.), Understanding chimpanzees, 220–233 Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press and The Chicago Academy of Sciences Hauser, M D., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, W T 2002, November 22 The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298, 1569–1579 Lieberman, P 1984 The biology and evolution of language Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press Matsuzawa, T 1989 Spontaneous pattern construction in a chimpanzee In P Heltne & L Marquardt (Eds.), Understanding chimpanzees, 252–65 Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press and The Chicago Academy of Sciences Menzel, C 1999 Unprompted recall and reporting of hidden objects by a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) after extended delays Journal of Comparative Psychology, 113, no 4, 426–34 Neisser, A 1983 The other side of silence: Sign language and the deaf community in America New York: Alfred A Knopf Patterson, F., & Linden, E 1981 The education of Koko New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Peterson, D., & Goodall, J 1993 Visions of Caliban: On chimpanzees and people Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company Pinker, S 1994 The language instinct New York: Harper Perennial Savage-Rumbaugh, S., & Lewin, R 1994 Kanzi: The ape at the brink of the human mind London: Doubleday Stokoe, W C 1983 Apes who sign and critics who don’t In J de Luce & H Wilder (Eds.), Language in primates: Perspectives and implications, 147–58 New York: SpringerVerlag Temerlin, M 1975 Lucy: growing up human Palo Alto, California: Science and Behavior Books Terrace, H 1979, 1987 Nim: a chimpanzee who learned sign language New York: Columbia University Press Terrace, H S., Petitto, L A., Sanders, R J., & Bever, T G 1979, November 23 Can an ape create a sentence? Science, 206, 891–902 Wallman, J 1992 Aping language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Koen Margodt