Chimpanzees produce diverse vocal sequences with ordered and recombinatorial properties.

ABSTRACT: The origins of human language remains a major question in evolutionary science. Unique to human language is the capacity to flexibly recombine a limited sound set into words and hierarchical sequences, generating endlessly new sentences. In contrast, sequence production of other animals appears limited, stunting meaning generation potential. However, studies have rarely quantified flexibility and structure of vocal sequence production across the whole repertoire. Here, we used such an approach to examine the structure of vocal sequences in chimpanzees, known to combine calls used singly into longer sequences. Focusing on the structure of vocal sequences, we analysed 4826 recordings of 46 wild adult chimpanzees from Taï National Park. Chimpanzees produced 390 unique vocal sequences. Most vo

SUBMITTER: Girard-Buttoz C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9110424 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature