Scientists have moved one step closer to decoding the languages that animals like chimpanzees use to communicate. According to a new study published in Nature, chimpanzees have specific words, or noises, that signify different human words, and they can even be combined into “syntactic-like structures,” creating a unique chimpanzee language.
The research began following anecdotal data that chimpanzees might combine different calls or noises when encountering certain creatures, like snakes. To test the data, researchers set up snake presentations and then recorded how the chimps responded to the appearance of the snakes. According to the study, the chimps produced various “alarm-huus” and “waa-barks” when encountering snakes particularly.
It’s possible that the language used by chimpanzees is some kind of precursor to how human language itself evolved. At least, that appears to be the suggestion that the researchers are making here. Language has always been something that humans believed was special to them because they were able to combine various words and noises to mean different things.
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But, with this new research, the basic blocks of how human syntax evolved and even began could turn what scientists think they know about human syntax on its head, and it could help further strengthen the ties between humanity’s evolution and animals like chimpanzees.
