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Bonobos, our closest relatives, have a language with similar characteristics to that of humans, according to a new study. (archive picture)
Keystone
Human language is probably not as unique as we thought. Researchers at the University of Zurich have shown that bonobos, our closest relatives, combine their calls into complex sequences of sounds that resemble human word combinations.
It is the first empirical study to demonstrate this type of communication in animals, the researchers led by Simon Townsend from the University of Zurich wrote in their study, which was published on Thursday in the journal "Science".
The ability to not simply string together individual sounds, but to combine them in such a way that new, independent meanings emerge, was previously considered a characteristic of human language.
For the study, the researchers created a dictionary using recordings of calls made by the great ape species bonobo. For each call, they determined what it meant. In a second step, they examined their combinations. They identified combinations that showed similarities with the more complex structures of human language.
03.04.2025, 20:00
