doi.org/10.1126/science.adv1170
Credibility: 989
#Bonobos
A recent study shows that bonobos, our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, combine sounds in a way that resembles how humans put words together to create meaningful sentences
Researchers from the University of Zurich and Harvard University have found that bonobo communication has similar features to human language, suggesting that some important parts of language may have originated millions of years ago.
The study was conducted on wild bonobos living in the Kokolopori Community Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Using methods inspired by linguistics (the study of language), the scientists showed that bonobos create combinations of sounds that have organized meanings, much like we do when we speak.
What is Compositionality?
Compositionality is the ability to put meaningful pieces together to form sentences, where the final meaning depends both on the individual parts and on how they are combined.
For example, in the Portuguese phrase “dancer blond” the meaning is simply the sum of the words: a person who is blond and dances.
But in more complex cases, such as “dancer bad”, the term “bad” does not mean that the person is bad, but rather that he or she does not dance well.
Here, “bad” modifies the meaning of “dancer”, creating a more elaborate meaning.
A Bonobo “Dictionary”
The researchers began by using a linguistic technique to understand what each bonobo sound means.
“We were able to create a kind of bonobo dictionary, a complete list of all the sounds they make and what each one means,” explains Mélissa Berthet, a researcher at the University of Zurich and leader of the study.
This was the first time that scientists were able to map the meaning of all the sounds an animal makes.
“It is an important step towards understanding how other species communicate,” says Berthet.
Compositionality Isn’t Just Human
After understanding the meaning of individual sounds, the researchers turned to studying combinations of those sounds, using another linguistic technique.
“Our method helped us see how the meaning of individual sounds and combinations relate to each other,” says Simon Townsend, a professor at the University of Zurich and lead author of the study.
They found that many bonobo sound combinations have meanings attached to the individual sounds, which is an important feature of compositionality.
Some of these combinations were surprisingly similar to the most complex structures of human language.
“This shows that the ability to combine sounds in complex ways is not as unique to humans as we thought,” says Berthet.
Earlier Than We Thought
This discovery also helps us understand how language evolved.
Humans and bonobos share a common ancestor that lived about 7 to 13 million years ago.
As a result, they have many features in common, and compositionality appears to be one of them.
“Our study suggests that our ancestors have been using compositionality for at least 7 million years, perhaps even longer,” Townsend explains.
Martin Surbeck, a Harvard professor and co-author of the study, adds: “The ability to create complex meanings from smaller sounds existed long before human language emerged.”
The results show that bonobo communication is more similar to human language than previously thought, suggesting that the roots of our speech may be much older than previously thought.
Published in 04/14/2025 14h00
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption. Information about DOI, author and institution can be found in the body of the article.
Reference article:
- https://scitechdaily.com/bonobos-speak-in-phrases-new-study-challenges-uniqueness-of-human-language/
Original study:
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