Chomsky, conceding that language has share components across multiple species and domains, now uses the terms 'Broad' and 'Narrow,' Narrow being the only human trait of discrete infinity. Noam Chomsky called it a 'language acquisition device' innate to humans which allows for our use of the matured 'language organ' or faculty (See Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002). The faculty argument is common in the field of evolutionary linguistics and biolinguistics. The immersive language experienced failed, however, after three years Cathy Hays said “the only obvious and important deficit in the ape’s innate intelligence, as compared with man’s, is a missing facility for using and understanding language” (Fitch, 2002). Viki lived like a human, even with a human sibling, for three years with her trainers, Keith and Cathy Hayes, with the notion that the other failed attempts of teaching a non-human primate a human language failed because these studies used environments too dissimilar to a human's environment when infants learn language. However, further experiments in which chimpanzees were instructed in the use of American sign language indicated that Viki's achievements had been significantly hampered by physiological limitations-chimpanzees are not able to produce the sounds that make up human speech. This extremely limited success was at first interpreted as evidence that apes were not capable of using human language. Eventually, she was able to voice four words: She was given speech therapy, which involved the Hayeses (her adopters) manipulating her lower jaw.

Viki was raised by Keith and Catherine Hayes in the same manner as a human infant, to see if she could learn human words. In a world of bland shite we need to treasure artists like this - even if they burn.Viki was the subject of one of the first experiments in ape language. You may love her, hate her, be astonished, be repelled - but you will not be unmoved. 'There are some musicians who entertain us, fine some who stimulate us, better and then some who immerse us in something so powerful that almost, primal emotions surface instantly making us ultra-defensive, or, finally open to illumination. With a focus on the sounds of the body and its functions, involving contact-miked skin, amplified breath and live electronic manipulation, Langan's work sits between sound and performance art.' Langan both embraces and projects vulnerability, offering an intimate physical theatre loaded with personal symbolism and unguarded emotion. 'Through her solo work…Irish artist Vicky Langan has gained a reputation for raw and intense performances that are as likely to leave audiences feeling deeply unsettled as profoundly moved. She is difficult to define yet easy to follow, and it is this quality of empathic otherness that makes you concentrate on every sound, every move she makes.”

the territories of visual/art/performance/music/film/sound all overlap and co-emerge in her articulate presence. “Vicky Langan is an artist who melts borders. She is a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Artist Award 2019/20, as well as bursary awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, Cork City Council and Music Network. In opening herself emotionally, she creates warm yet discomforting rituals that at once embrace the viewer and remain resolutely private, exploring the limits of what can be shared between people and what must remain mysterious. Her decade-long filmmaking partnership with filmmaker and critic Maximilian Le Cain has resulted in sixteen moving image works to date, with screenings and retrospectives of their work having been shown throughout the world. Mundane domesticity is explored as a temporal space where the material body and sensual inner worlds mesh. Using simple raw materials such as domestic objects, hair and magnetic tape, she layers physical gestures and scraps of sound to create intensely personal imaginary landscapes. With a focus on the sounds of the body and its functions, involving contact-miked skin, amplified breath and live electronic manipulation, Langan’s work sits between sound and performance art. Langan both embraces and projects vulnerability, offering an intimate territory loaded with personal symbolism and unguarded emotion. Vicky Langan is a Cork-based artist whose practice operates across several often overlapping fields, chiefly sound, performance, and film.

Vicky langy