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The Speech of Monkeys
·
R. L. Garner
14
In
this
case
I
noticed
the
defects
which
occurred
in
my
work
and
provided
against
them,
as
well
as
I
could,
for
the
future.
Soon
after
this
I
went
to
Chicago
and
Cincinnati,
where
I
made
a
number
of
records
of
the
sounds
of
a
great
number
of
monkeys,
and
among
others
I
secured
a
splendid
record
of
the
two
chimpanzees
contained
in
the
Cincinnati
collection,
which
I
brought
home
with
me
for
study.
The
records
that
I
made
of
various
specimens
of
the
Simian
race
I
repeated
to
myself
over
and
over,
until
I
became
familiar
with
them,
and
learned
to
imitate
a
few
of
them,
mostly
by
the
use
of
mechanical
devices.
After
having
accomplished
this
I
returned
to
Chicago,
and
went
at
once
to
visit
a
small
Capuchin
monkey
whose
record
had
been
my
chief
study.
Standing
near
his
cage,
I
imitated
a
sound
which
I
had
translated
"milk,"
but
from
many
tests
I
concluded
it
meant
"food,"
which
opinion
has
been
somewhat
modified
by
many
later
experiments
which
led
me
to
believe
that
he
uses
it
in
a
still
wider
sense.
It
is
difficult
to
find
any
formula
of
human
speech
equivalent
to
it.
While
the
Capuchin
uses
it
relating
to
food
and
sometimes
to
drink,
I
was
unable
to
detect
any
difference
in
the
sounds.
He
also
seemed
to
connect
the
same
sound
to
every
kindly
office
done
him,
and
to
use
it
as
a
kind
of
"Shibboleth."
More
recently,
however,
I
have
detected
in
the
sound
slight
changes
of
inflection
under
different
conditions,
until
I
am
now
led
to
believe
that
the
meaning
of
the
word
depends
somewhat,
if
not
wholly,
on
its
modulation.
The
phonetic
effect
is
rich
and
rather
flute-like,
and
the
word
resembles
somewhat
the
word
"who."
Its
dominant
is
a
pure
vocal
"u,"
sounded
like
"oo"
in
"too,"
which
has
a
faint
initial
"wh,"
both
elements
of
which
are
sounded,
and
the
word
ends
with
a
vanishing
"w."
The
literal
formula
by
which
I
would
represent
it
is
"wh-oo-w."
The
word
which
I
have
translated
"drink"
begins
with
a
faint
guttural
"ch,"
and
glides
through
a
sound
resembling
the
French
diphthong
"eu,"
and
ends
with
a
slight
"y"
sound
as
in
"ye."
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