Precursors to speech found in chimpanzees

Man's closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, are moving their lips in a 'speech-like' rhythm.

this is The conclusion of researchers from, among others, the University of York in England, according to a new study, writes the university in a press release, according to the Science.dk. https://videnskab.dk/naturvidenskab/forskere-finder-forstadier-til-tale-sprog-i-chimpanser

'Our study indicates that human speech has deep evolutionary roots and probably got a lift from the rhythmic ansigtsbevægelser that existed in our primate common ancestors,' says professor Katie Slocombe from the University of York in the press release, according to Science.dk.

She is co-author of the new study, published in the journal Biology Letters.

Chimpanzees are perhaps not so far from the people. Photo credit: Shutterstock

the Tendency to open and close the mouth quickly and thereby make small ’stone voices’ with the lips is already known from the orangutans and other monkeys.

But it is only now that the researchers have found the same phenomenon among the african apes, and even in human's closest living relatives, the chimpanzees.

the Researchers have analyzed the video recordings from the four chimpansepopulationer – two wild and two in captivity.

the Footage revealed that the chimps opens and closes the mouth up to five times in the second, when they communicate with each other.

The new discovery suggests that the origins of human speech among others, to be found in these foot-signals, writes the University of York in the press release, according to Science.dk.

arguably, the ability to speak an interconnection of inherited ingredients, which have already evolved in man's early family history, considers the study's lead author, ph.d. Adriano Lameria from the University of Warwick.

'We have seen pronounced differences in the rhythm (in the mundbevægelserne, red.) across chimpansepopulationer, which indicates that they are not the automatic and stereotype signals that so often gets attributed to our monkey-cousins,' says Adriano Lameria from the University of Warwick in the press release from the University of York according to the Science.dk.

'instead, we should, like people, begin seriously to consider whether the individual differences, social conventions and environmental factors may play a role in how the chimpanzees start to 'talk' with each other,' concludes Adriano Lameria.

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