NI Bureau
Recent research suggests that chimpanzees might have the potential to produce human-like speech, contrary to previous beliefs that they could only make grunts and hoots. The study, published in Scientific Reports, involved a team of speech specialists and psychologists who reviewed old footage. They discovered that three chimpanzees appeared to have learned to say human words, suggesting that with the right environment, chimps could develop basic language skills.
“In an online experiment, human listeners who were unaware of the recordings’ origins consistently recognized the chimpanzee sounds as syllabic, particularly as ‘ma-ma,’ among other syllables. This indicates that without direct data-driven analysis, the vocal abilities of great apes have been underestimated. Chimpanzees have the neural structures needed for speech,” the researchers noted.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-67005-w
The study also revisits a past case where a husband-and-wife team raised an infant chimp in their home, trying to teach it simple words like “mama,” “papa,” and “cup.” Though their work was eventually criticized and deemed unethical for separating the chimp from its natural mother, the new research team reviewed old videos from this experiment.
One significant video from the couple’s collection showed the chimp repeating “papa” three times and saying “cup” once, while another video captured it saying “mama.” Additionally, a video from Italy showed a chimp making a similar maternal sound. Researchers described these attempts as “essentially word-like,” suggesting that, with appropriate conditions, great apes can produce human-like speech. The study encourages the scientific community to reconsider past judgments and explore the speech potential of great apes anew.
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