New research shows that wild chimpanzees develop more nuanced communication systems than they have been achieved before, using several mechanisms that combine their vocalization to create new meanings.

These elements of chimpanzee communication, described in a study published Friday in the Journal of Science Development, resemble some of the basic building blocks of human language.

Scientists analyzed recordings of three groups of chimpanzees living on the Ivory Coast and found that chimpanzees could combine their hoot, grunt, and call in a way similar to humans using idioms or changing the order of words to build new phrases.

The new study is the first time scientists have documented this complexity in non-human communication systems, and they believe that chimpanzees’ capabilities represent an evolutionary transition point between basic animal communication and human language.

"The creation of new or combined meanings by combining words is a hallmark of human language," the press release said. "It is crucial to study whether similar abilities exist in our closest relatives, chimpanzees and bob bones."

A separate study published last month provides similar evidence that bonobos of another primate can also combine it with its modified call and form phrase to call. Together, these studies show that both species have evolved into the basic basis for the development of human language.

Bonobos and chimpanzees are the most closely related to humans in evolutionary history, meaning that all three species can evolve from common ancestors with this ability, a theory that can help researchers understand the development of human language.

"Our findings propose a highly generated sound communication system that is unprecedented in the animal kingdom, echoing the latest discoveries of Bonobos, suggesting that the common ancestor of humans and the two great ape species already exist in complex combinatorial abilities, Cédric Girard-Buttoz, cédric Girard-buttoz, a research related to researchers at ENES BioAsausts, the release of the laboratory and the first to study an author, the author of the first author.

The researchers followed specific animals every day in the fields from dawn to dusk, discovering these new complexities in chimpanzees' vocal systems, about 12 hours a day, recording the sounds made by chimpanzees and the reactions of others in the group. They recorded more than 4,300 vocalizations from 53 wild chimpanzees.

In the chimpanzee's voice, researchers also tracked what activities, social interactions and environmental changes are happening, noting, for example, animals are eating, playing, or encountering predators.

The researchers then conducted statistical analysis of specific two-channel combinations (e.g., after grunt, bark) that have been documented in a variety of animals.

The researchers found that chimpanzees combine call in all the daily aspects of life, and that these combinations can express various meanings.

Simon Townsend, a professor at the University of Zurich who studied primate cognition and contributed to Bonobo Research but was not involved in the study, said the paper was the first to use several different mechanisms to show chimpanzees that are considered the basis of language.

He said the evidence does suggest that BONOBOS, the co-evolutionary ancestors of humans and chimpanzees, may also have this capability.

“It really shows that our language abilities have evolved along the way,” Townsend said.

Not all primates show evidence of such complex communication. Townsend said forest monkeys have relatively simple social groups, mainly using voice to manage predatory threats.

But he believes that the formation of increasingly large and complex social groups (elements shared by great apes and humans) may have stimulated the evolution of more complex communication, ultimately the ability to form language.

For Bonobos and Chimpanzees, “The biggest challenge for them is browsing through their complex social world. They live in larger groups. … There is aggressiveness, reconciliation, territoriality, interactions between groups, and I think voice is an evolutionary solution to try to manage these complex and good social interactions,” Townsensensend said.

In human language, grammar is a set of rules that create systems that express an infinite number of meanings.

“Grammar is about providing more and more precise, sophisticated information. And, when your social interactions become more complex, you might just have to do that.”