Spectrograms of utterances of /mama/ (bottom) produced by Johnny (top), Renata (middle), and one of the authors. Source: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67005-w
By examining old videotapes, a small team of language experts and psychologists from Sweden, Britain and Switzerland has found that at least three chimpanzees have learned to speak human language, suggesting that animals can acquire the ability in the right circumstances. Published In the journal Scientific Reports.
For the past few decades, scientists have wondered why humans are the only primates to have developed language: Although it is true that some apes have learned to communicate vocally, there is little evidence that they use it. Spoken Words.
This has led to a debate between researchers who believe there is a difference in throat physiology and those who believe it is due to differences in the brain. Chimpanzeeand has the ability to speak human language, albeit at a rudimentary level.
Researchers cite the notable example of a husband-and-wife team who adopted young chimps and raised them in their home for several years, trying to get them to say simple words like “mummy,” “daddy” and “cup.” But their work has long been discredited as unethical because the chimps were separated from their biological mothers.
In this new effort, the team wondered if these findings had been rejected because there had been no attempts to replicate their work. To see if that was the case, they searched for video evidence of such training attempts and found three videos that showed evidence that chimpanzees can be taught to speak human language in a basic way.
In one video made by a husband-and-wife team, a chimp utters the word “daddy” at least three times and the word “cup” once. In another video on YouTube, a chimp (called Johnny) utters the word “mama.” And in another video from Italy, a chimp utters the word “mama.”
The researchers say that although chimpanzees’ pronunciation differs from human speech, their vocal attempts are “essentially speech-like,” and they suggest that the findings suggest that apes may be able to speak human language to some degree in the right circumstances.
For more information:
Axel G. Ekström et al., “Chimpanzee Vocalizations Disprove the Missing Link between Novel Vocalizations and Syllabic Language.” Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67005-w
© 2024 Science X Network
Quote: Old videos of chimpanzees suggest they can speak (July 29, 2024) Retrieved July 29, 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-07-videos-chimpanzees-capable-speech.html
This document is subject to copyright. It may not be reproduced without written permission, except for fair dealing for the purposes of personal study or research. The content is provided for informational purposes only.
