PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

The origins of language

Wild chimpanzees alter the meaning of single calls when embedding them into diverse call combinations, mirroring linguistic operations in human language

2025-05-09
(Press-News.org) To the point Chimpanzees are capable of complex communication: The human capacity for language may not be as unique as previously thought. Chimpanzees have a complex communication system that allows them to combine calls to create new meanings, similar to human language. Combining calls creatively: Chimpanzees use four ways to change meaning when combining single calls into two-call combinations, including compositional and non-compositional combinations, and they use a large variety of call combinations in a wide range of contexts. Origins of language: The discovery of a complex communication system in chimpanzees has important implications for understanding the evolution of human language, suggesting that complex combinatorial abilities may have been present in the common ancestor of humans and great apes, and highlighting the need for further research into the complexity of animal communication and its relationship to human language.

Humans are the only species on earth known to use language. They do this by combining sounds into words and words into sentences, creating infinite meanings. This process is based on linguistic rules that define how the meaning of calls is understood in different sentence structures. For example, the word “ape” can be combined with other words to form compositional sentences that add meaning: “the ape eats” or append meaning: “big ape”, and non-compositional idiomatic sentences that create a completely new meaning: “go ape”. A key component of language is syntax, which determines how the order of words affects meaning, for instance how “go ape” and “ape goes” convey different meanings.

One fundamental question in science is to understand where this extraordinary capacity for language originates from. Researchers often use the comparative approach to trace the evolutionary origins of human language by comparing the vocal production of other animals, particularly primates, with that of humans. Unlike humans, other primates typically rely on single calls (referred to as call types), and while some species combine calls, these combinations are only a few per species and mostly serve to alert others to the presence of predators. This suggests that their communication systems may be too restricted to be a precursor to the complex, open-ended combinatorial system that is human language. However, we may not have a full picture of the linguistic capacities of our closest living relatives, particularly how they might use call combinations to significantly expand their meaning.  

Studying the meaning of chimpanzee vocalisations

Researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology and for Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and from the Cognitive Neuroscience Center Marc Jeannerod (CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) and Neuroscience Research Center (CNRS/Inserm/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) in Lyon, France recorded thousands of vocalisations from three groups of wild chimpanzees in the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast. They examined how the meanings of 12 different chimpanzee calls changed when they were combined into two-call combinations. “Generating new or combined meanings by combining words is a hallmark of human language, and it is crucial to investigate whether a similar capacity exists in our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, in order to decipher the origins of human language,” says Catherine Crockford, senior author of the study. “Recording chimpanzee vocalisations over several years in their natural environment is essential in order to document their full communicative capabilities, a task that is becoming increasingly challenging due to growing human threats to wild chimpanzee populations”, says Roman Wittig, co-author of the study and director of the Taï Chimpanzee Project.

Chimpanzees' complex communication system

The study reveals four ways in which chimpanzees alter meanings when combining single calls into 16 different two-call combinations, analogous to the key linguistic principles in human language. Chimpanzees used compositional combinations that added meaning (e.g., A = feeding, B = resting, AB = feeding + resting) and clarified meaning (e.g., A = feeding or travelling, B = aggression, AB = travelling). They also used non-compositional idiomatic combinations that created entirely new meanings (e.g., A = resting, B = affiliation, AB = nesting). Crucially, unlike previous studies which have mostly reported call combinations in limited situations such as predator encounters, the chimpanzees in this study expanded their meanings through the versatile combination of most of their single calls into a large diversity of call combinations used in a wide range of contexts.

“Our findings suggest a highly generative vocal communication system, unprecedented in the animal kingdom, which echoes recent findings in bonobos suggesting that complex combinatorial capacities were already present in the common ancestor of humans and these two great ape species,” says Cédric Girard-Buttoz, first author on the study. He adds: “This changes the views of the last century which considered communication in the great apes to be fixed and linked to emotional states, and therefore unable to tell us anything about the evolution of language. Instead, we see clear indications here that most call types in the repertoire can shift or combine their meaning when combined with other call types. The complexity of this system suggests either that there is indeed something special about hominid communication – that complex communication was already emerging in our last common ancestor, shared with our closest living relatives – or that we have underestimated the complexity of communication in other animals as well, which requires further study.”

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

SNU-Harvard researchers jointly build next-gen swarm robots using simple linked particles

2025-05-09
Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that a joint research team from Seoul National University and Harvard University has developed a next-generation swarm robot system inspired by nature—capable of movement, exploration, transport, and cooperation, all without the need for precise sensors or centralized control.   The study was led by Professor Ho-Young Kim, Dr. Kyungmin Son, and master’s student Kwanwoo Kim at SNU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Professor L. Mahadevan and Dr. Kimberly Bowal at Harvard. Their approach connects simple, active ...

First fossil evidence of endangered tropical tree discovered

2025-05-09
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the first time, scientists have discovered fossil evidence of an endangered, living tropical tree species. The unprecedented find was made in Brunei, a country on the large island of Borneo, and reveals a critical piece of the ancient history of Asia’s rainforests, highlighting the urgent need for conservation in the region, according to researchers at Penn State who led the discovery.   The research team published their findings in the American Journal of Botany.  The fossils, at least two million years old, represent the first direct ...

New gene linked to severe cases of Fanconi anemia

2025-05-09
Fanconi anemia is an aggressive, life-threatening disorder. Most individuals living with this rare genetic condition, characterized by bone marrow failure and cancer predisposition, survive into adulthood only with bone marrow transplantation and regular cancer screening. But a new study demonstrates that mutations in one particular gene in the Fanconi anemia pathway result in an even more severe form of the disorder—and that many fetuses with this mutation do not survive to birth. The sobering findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, ...

METTL3 drives oral cancer by blocking tumor-suppressing gene

2025-05-09
“[…] we report that METTL3, an oncogene regulates the expression of SMAD4, a tumor-suppressor via miR-146a-5p, thus unveiling a novel regulatory axis of METTL3/miR-146a-5p/SMAD4 in OSCC, which can potentially have therapeutic implications.” BUFFALO, NY – May 9, 2025 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget, Volume 16, on May 8, 2025, titled “METTL3 promotes oral squamous cell carcinoma by regulating miR-146a-5p/SMAD4 axis.” In this study, researchers Jayasree Peroth Jayaprakash, Pragati Karemore, and Piyush Khandelia from the Birla Institute of Technology and ...

Switch to two-point rating scales to reduce racism in performance reviews, research suggests

2025-05-09
 Toronto - The plumber has just left after fixing that leaky basement pipe. Ping – a phone alert asks you to rate their service. Hmm -- if it wasn’t an outright terrible job, do you give them three, four or five stars? New research from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management shows that a multi-point system like that is prone to subtle, often unconscious, racial bias -- yet with significant financial consequences for non-white workers. Using data from a real-life online home maintenance matching service, researchers showed white workers ...

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Ahead-of-Print Tip Sheet: May 9, 2025

2025-05-09
Reston, VA (May 9, 2025)—New research has been published ahead-of-print by The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM). JNM is published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, and theranostics—precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. Summaries of the newly published research articles are provided below. New Brain Imaging Tool Targets Key Enzyme in Mental Health Scientists have developed a promising new PET imaging compound, 11C-ZTP-1, to visualize ...

Stability solution brings unique form of carbon closer to practical application

2025-05-09
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Carbyne, a one-dimensional chain of carbon atoms, is incredibly strong for being so thin, making it an intriguing possibility for use in next-generation electronics, but its extreme instability causing it to bend and snap on itself made it nearly impossible to produce at all, let alone produce enough of it for advanced studies. Now, an international team of researchers, including from Penn State, may have a solution.   The research team has enclosed carbyne in single-walled carbon nanotubes — tiny, tube-shaped ...

New research illustrates the relationship between moral outrage on social media and activism

2025-05-09
A new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science examines how expressions of moral outrage on social media are linked to online activism, specifically petition signing behavior. A research team led by Dr. Stefan Leach from Lancaster University analyzed over 1.2 million posts on X (formerly Twitter) containing links to nearly 25,000 petitions on Change.org. The findings reveal a surprising disconnect: while expressions of moral outrage significantly increase a post's virality (likes and reposts), they ...

New enzyme capable of cleaving cellulose should revolutionize biofuel production

2025-05-09
The deconstruction of cellulose is essential for the conversion of biomass into fuels and chemicals. But cellulose, the most abundant renewable polymer on the planet, is extremely recalcitrant to biological depolymerization. Although composed entirely of glucose units, its crystalline microfibrillar structure and association with lignin and hemicelluloses in plant cell walls make it highly resistant to degradation. As a result, its degradation in nature is slow and requires complex enzymatic systems. The deconstruction ...

Krebs von den Lungen-6 as a biomarker for distinguishing between interstitial lung disease and interstitial lung abnormalities based on computed tomography findings

2025-05-09
Background: Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6), predominantly expressed by type II alveolar cells, is linked to the prognosis and severity of interstitial lung disease (ILD). This investigation sought to explore the relationship between KL-6 concentrations and the presence of ILD versus interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA). Methods: This single-center retrospective study included 147 patients who were suspected of ILD and underwent KL-6 testing between October 2022 and March 2023. Epidemiological and clinical details of the patients, including the outcomes of pulmonary function tests and computed tomography findings, were retrospectively extracted from electronic medical records. Results: The ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

The greater a woman’s BMI in early pregnancy, the more likely her child is to develop overweight or obesity, Australian study finds

The combination of significant weight gain and late motherhood greatly increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer, UK study finds

Weight-loss drugs cut alcohol intake by almost two-thirds, research in Ireland suggests

Swedish study explores differences in how the sexes break down fat

Antibiotics taken during infancy linked to early puberty in girls

Real-world evidence links long-term use of oral and inhaled steroids to adrenal insufficiency

Phthalates may impact key genital measurement in 3-year-olds

Phosphate levels in blood strongly affect sperm quality in men

Testosterone during pregnancy linked to physical activity and muscle strength in children

Menopause at an earlier age increases risk of fatty liver disease and metabolic disorders

Early-life growth proved important for height in puberty and adulthood

Women with infertility history at greater risk of cardiovascular disease after assisted conception

UO researcher develops new tool that could aid drug development

Call for abstracts: GSA Connects 2025 invites geoscientists to share groundbreaking research

The skinny on fat, ascites and anti-tumor immunity

New film series 'The Deadly Five' highlights global animal infectious diseases

Four organizations receive funds to combat food insecurity

Ultrasound unlocks a safer, greener way to make hydrogels 

Antibiotics from human use are contaminating rivers worldwide, study shows

A more realistic look at DNA in action

Skia: Shedding light on shadow branches

Fat-rich fluid fuels immune failure in ovarian cancer

The origins of language

SNU-Harvard researchers jointly build next-gen swarm robots using simple linked particles

First fossil evidence of endangered tropical tree discovered

New gene linked to severe cases of Fanconi anemia

METTL3 drives oral cancer by blocking tumor-suppressing gene

Switch to two-point rating scales to reduce racism in performance reviews, research suggests

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Ahead-of-Print Tip Sheet: May 9, 2025

Stability solution brings unique form of carbon closer to practical application

[Press-News.org] The origins of language
Wild chimpanzees alter the meaning of single calls when embedding them into diverse call combinations, mirroring linguistic operations in human language