Final answer:
Viki, Washoe, Nim Chimpsky, Lana, and Koko are primates known for their involvement in language studies, which have helped to uncover the communication capabilities and cognitive skills of non-human animals. These studies have provided significant insights into animal intelligence and the concept of culture among non-human primates.
Step-by-step explanation:
Viki, Washoe, Nim Chimpsky, Lana, and Koko are among the most well-known primates involved in language studies to better understand the communication abilities and cognitive skills of non-human animals.
Washoe, for example, was a female chimpanzee who learned American Sign Language (ASL) as part of a research study, which led to breakthroughs in our understanding of non-human primate's capacity to learn human-like communication methods. Nim Chimpsky, a play on the name of the linguist Noam Chomsky, was another chimpanzee taught to use sign language, featured in a study that tried to determine if chimpanzees could construct and understand syntax in a language system.
Koko was a gorilla famous for her sign language skills, having learned around a thousand signs, a vocabulary similar to that of a three-year-old child. Koko's abilities hinted at the potential for emotional depth and intellectual capabilities in primates, showing signs of joking, lying, inventing new signs, and even teaching other gorillas. Lana, another primate in language studies, was trained to communicate through a computer using lexigrams, symbols representing words.
These primates played vital roles in challenging our understanding of language, intelligence, and culture among non-human animals, opening up new arenas in primatology and anthropology. Their studies questioned not only what primates could learn but also the nature of culture in non-human species, as the primates sometimes exhibited behaviors typically associated with human culture.