From: Emil Gilliam (emil@emilgilliam.com)
Date: Sun Jan 18 2004 - 10:01:58 MST
19:00 15 January 04
NewScientist.com news service
The key cognitive step that allowed humans to become the only animals
using language may have been identified, scientists say.
A new study on monkeys found that while they are able to understand
basic rules about word patterns, they are not able to follow more
complex rules that underpin the crucial next stage of language
structure.
For example, the monkeys could master simple word structures, analogous
to realising that "the" and "a" are always followed by another word.
But they were unable to grasp phrase patterns analogous to "if...
then..." constructions. ...
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994572
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