A baby gorilla has learned to utter three word-like sounds, Karl S. Lashley, research professor of Neuropsychology, disclosed yesterday.

The animal was raised with as much care as a human child in a study of primate intelligence undertaken by a group of Harvard and Yale scientists in a wood near Jacksonville, Florida.

The sounds the gorilla made were not really words, Lashley said, because "he doesn't use them like words. . . . It's more like the old talking-dog trick.

Child's Shoe Found

Trainers tried to keep the education of the primate a secret from people living near research center. This led to difficulties recently when a child's shoe was found on a lonely stretch of beach near Jacksonville. Police began an excited investigation and learned that the shoe belonged to the "child" gorilla, which had been surf bathing with his human "family" and child-like, had forgotten his shoe.