There Might Be Something Human in the Way Bonobos Communicate--Their Calls Share a Key Trait With Our Language, Study Sug

[Judi Lynn]

There Might Be Something Human in the Way Bonobos Communicate—Their Calls Share a Key Trait With Our Language, Study Suggests


Researchers attempted to decode bonobo calls by recording their social context, then analyzed how the primates string together these vocalizations

Margherita Bassi - Daily Correspondent
April 4, 2025



A young bonobo female responds to group members. Martin Surbeck, Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project


Scientists have long considered the complexity of language to be an obvious separation between humans and all other life forms on Earth. New research, however, suggests our linguistic abilities might not be as unique as we thought.

Researchers studied the vocal behavior of wild bonobos—which are among humans’ closest living relatives—and concluded their oral communication features complex combinations that are potentially similar to those found in human language. Their work is detailed in a study published Thursday in the journal Science and hints at the evolutionary origin of our own communication.

“We would never say that bonobos have language, because language is specific to humans. It’s our very special communication system,” Simon Townsend, a comparative psychologist at the University of Zurich and a co-author of the study, tells NBC News’ Evan Bush. However, “we’re showing that features of language seem to be present in the communication system of bonobos.”

In linguistics, compositionality is the principle in which the meaning of a phrase is determined by the meaning of its constituent words and the way they relate to each other. In basic, or trivial, compositionality, the meaning of a phrase is simply the addition of the meaning of its words. For example, a “blond dancer” is an individual who is blond and a dancer, as explained in a statement from the University of Zurich.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/there-might-be-something-human-in-the-way-bonobos-communicate-their-calls-share-a-key-trait-with-our-language-study-suggests-180986370/