[1] Lexigrams were notably used by the Georgia State University Language Research Center to communicate with bonobos and chimpanzees.

[1][2] The Yerkish language was developed by Ernst von Glasersfeld and used by Duane Rumbaugh and Sue Savage-Rumbaugh of Georgia State University while working with primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

In an attempt to structure the use of symbols as language, Yerkish formalized the use of the lexigram, a graphic design which represents a word but is not necessarily indicative of the object to which it refers.

[3] Each lexigram is designed to be semantically and syntactically unequivocal, a conscious effort to reduce the ambiguity of English.

A lexigram keyboard was created for Lana with each key representing various nouns or verbs such as food, eat, apple, drink, etc.