Final answer:
Apes can learn American Sign Language to a limited degree and demonstrate basic language capacities, yet their abilities are substantially different from the complexity of human language.
Step-by-step explanation:
The most accurate statement regarding the use of language by apes is that apes can learn American Sign Language and have shown the capacity for cultural transmission, productivity, and displacement. While chimps, gorillas, bonobos, and orangutans do not naturally use language in the wild, several individuals have been taught to use gestures or tokens to communicate in a rule-based way that resembles a protolanguage. Human-reared apes have been reported to be able to comment on non-present things, tell jokes, and even lie, which indicates some level of linguistic ability, despite being a far cry from the sophistication of human language.
For example, Koko, a well-known gorilla, was taught over a thousand signs and displayed the ability to comment on absent things, fabricate lies, and even invent signs. Researchers contend that while primates lack a vocal tract to produce human language sounds, apes possess some biological features that allow them to learn a simplified form of human language. However, the communication system of non-human primates in the wild, such as chimpanzees and gibbons, shows a limited range of expression when compared to the infinite productivity of human language.