The Speech of Monkeys

by Richard Lynch Garner

Garner's groundbreaking study of primate communication from the late 19th century remains a landmark achievement in the field of animal behavior. Based on extensive first-hand observations and experimentation, Garner's work challenges traditional notions of animal intelligence, and provides a compelling case for the existence of language-like systems in primates. This book is an important contribution to the history of science and has continued relevance for researchers and the general public interested in animal behavior and evolution. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1892

About the author

American primatatologist

a.k.a. R.L. Garner: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Reviews

[Osiris Oliphant]

first published in 1892
this was the first scientific study of monkey languages. here are some of the chapters:

...my first observations of monkeys...
...my first efforts to learn their speech...
...a phonograph used...
...a visit with dago...
...my efforts to speak to him...
...the words for food and drink...
...monkeys have favorite colors...
...can distinguish numbers and quantity...
...music and art very limited...
...pedro's speech recorded...
...delivered to puck through the phonograph...
...little darwin learns a new word...
...dago talks about the weather...
...tells me of his troubles...
...specific words and signs...
...the negative signs and sounds...
...possible origin of negative and positive signs...
...meeting with nellie...
...nellie was my guest...
...a little flirtation...
...the capuchin vocabulary...
...what i have found...
...what i forsee...
...word for food in rhesus dialect...
...java monkeys and what they say...
...monkeys and the mirror...
...some of their antics...
...certain marks which characterize the sounds of monkeys as speech...
...the voice as a whistle...
...the phonograph as an aid to science...
...dr. bell and his visible speech...
...fishes and their language...

[dragonhelmuk]

Kindled for free: Garner’s study on the vocalisations of monkeys (he calls the system a language) starts off with a list of words used by monkeys, amply illustrated with excellent anecdotes. Unfortunately he then goes into metaphysics, and the meaning of languages, which gets incredibly boring. Stop on chapter 15 (location 1225 for kindle readers of the archive.org text)

(on speech)
One of the most certain of my discoveries in the Simian speech, is the negative sign and the word "no." The sign is made by shaking the head from side to side in a fashion almost exactly like that used by man to express the same idea. I have no longer any doubt of the intent and meaning of this sign, and the many tests to which I have subjected it compel me accept the result as final.

(all his monkeys failing the mirror test)
Nellie would chatter to herself in the mirror, and seemed never to tire of looking at that beautiful monkey she saw there, and I do not think the propensity could be accounted for merely by her sex…

(Garner’s character, fanatical or amazing?)
Some years ago I had an opportunity of studying a colony of ants, and I watched them almost daily for several weeks.
… (or)
By a study of the external forms of the mouth the movements of all the organs used in making any sound can be determined with such certainty that deaf-mutes can be, and have been, successfully taught to distinguish these sounds by the eye alone. And it was by such a method that I set out to read the temple inscriptions from the ruins of Palenque, some years ago, at which time I had not heard of Dr. Bell's learned and excellent work The main feature of those glyphs, by which I was guided, was the outline of the mouth, which the artist had sought to preserve and emphasise at the cost of every other feature, and by this process I found to my satisfaction some ten or twelve sounds or phonetic elements of the speech used by these people ; but not knowing the meaning of the sounds in that lost tongue, I did not attempt to verify them, but when I find the time to devote to them I believe I can accomplish that.