SEGMENT 1

Psychologist Robin Dunbar thinks that as proto-human settlements became larger, our ancestors developed language as a means of replacing the intense mutual grooming shared by other primates. He tells Jim Fleming that for modern humans, gossip has replaced grooming.

SEGMENT 2:

Primatologist Robert Seyfarth is the author (with Dorothy Cheney) of "How Monkeys See the World." He tells Steve Paulson that the great apes have a much greater aptitude than other monkeys for symbolic thinking; and recounts some of his experiences studying monkeys in the wild. Also, comedian Bob Newhart tackles the question of ape language in "An Infinite Number of Monkeys."

SEGMENT 3:

Terry Deacon is a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, and an anthropologist at Boston University. He is also the author of "The Symbolic Species: The Co- Evolution of Language and the Brain." Deacon tells Judith Strasser that humans' unique ability to think symbolically has caused our brains to evolve in ways that favor language development, and that there seems to be no such thing as a simple language. Also, Poet Laureate of the United States, Robert Pinsky, tells Steve Paulson that he thinks our early human ancestors began their development of language with rhythm and grunts, or music and poetry.

Distribution dates:

• week of 05/18/97 - hour 2
• week of 10/19/97 - hour 2