In early research into the linguistic abilities of chimps, researchers spent years trying to teach them to use spoken language. As great apes lack the necessary anatomical structures for vocalization, the studies were largely unsuccessful, with the chimps only managing a few basic words such as “mama,” “papa,” “cup,” and “up.” These studies were considered failures, and many people thought the question of chimp language was closed.25 The ableist assumption was that if a chimpanzee were able to use language, it would be in the same way that nondisabled hearing humans do: through sound.
