Joint research from the University of Zurich and Harvard reveals that bonobos use meaningful vocal combinations, suggesting deep evolutionary roots for language
Researchers from the University of Zurich and Harvard have concluded after extensive investigation that bonobos, a close relative of humans, are able to assemble vocal calls into combinations that are similar in meaning to sentence structures in human language. The study, conducted in the Kokolopori Community Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, used innovative methods inspired by the field of linguistics, and was able to determine for the first time the meaning of individual calls as well as the shared meaning of vocal combinations.
The researchers began by creating a “bonobo dictionary”—a structured list of calls, each of which was identified with a specific meaning. Using this method, they were able to quantify how the meaning of a single call changes when combined with other calls, a phenomenon known as compositionality.
For example, when a bonobo utters a single call on its own, it carries a certain meaning, but when the call is combined with another call, the overall meaning is not just the sum of the parts but the result of mutual modification and emphasis between the elements. This finding, according to the researchers, is a sign that the ability to combine small units to create complex meaning also exists in other animals, and is not unique to humans.
The study suggests that this trait may have deep evolutionary roots – given that humans and bonobos are descendants of a common ancestor that lived between 7 and 13 million years ago. According to Professor Simon Townsend of the University of Zurich, the findings indicate that complex linguistic abilities, which allow for the construction of multi-meaning sentences, already existed in our ancient ancestors.
In conclusion, the study changes the conventional view by presenting bonobos as a prominent example of how the development of the ability to combine vocal units to produce complex sentences has existed much longer than previously estimated, and opens a new door to understanding the evolution of language.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
11 תגובות
got upset
Wrote the secret of human language
Abraham, the uneducated scholar from the Tower of Babel: Your God had many interests, was hungry and swallowed all your idiosyncrasies and punctuation marks…
Alec Intelligent
No
All monkeys are former humans so obviously they have speech.
Monkey after man
To the best of my knowledge, in experiments of this kind, the children did not speak at all, and the fact that they spoke Hebrew is a religious legend intended to convince them to repent. If that is what they have to offer, the situation is probably difficult.
According to in-depth research hundreds of years ago
Took 2 naps since the day they were born
And locked them in a room
Treat them without talking to them.
Until they grew up
And they spoke to each other in the Hebrew language.
Language in which creation was created
And at Babel the language of the people who wanted to build a tower whose top reached to heaven was confused.
And through the confusion of their language the construction was stopped
And the languages spread around the world
Don't forget
In the beginning, God created…
And it's tried and tested and passed down through generations.
Without interests
I wonder when we will be able to speak fluently with animals. The capabilities of artificial intelligence and LLM in particular may make this possible.
Bonobos, unlike chimpanzees, defuse conflicts by "making love, not war." Females are the ones who decide, unlike aggressive chimpanzees. We are closer to chimpanzees... The fearsome gorillas are gentle creatures, contrary to popular belief, but they should not be provoked.
I don't understand what the excitement is.
We have many of these, mainly in Jerusalem, concentrated in one building.
Since time immemorial, humanity has held itself too high, turned its nose up at it, and felt that it was better than other animals. In the name of this superiority, they have murdered, slaughtered, destroyed, and are still destroying and harming animals day and night. It is time for humans to realize – they have no right over animals.
According to a midrash, as punishment for building the Tower of Babel, a third of humans were turned into monkeys. So it is no wonder that monkeys have traits reminiscent of the human species. And unlike Darwin's theory, humans are not the product of evolution, but rather the monkey is the product of human degradation. It is thought-provoking to see the bestial behavior of certain humans.