From Newsgroup: sci.anthropology.paleo


https://www.science.org/content/article/uniquely-human-language-capacity-found-bonobos

Human language can combine words to create
an infinite number of meaningsrCoan ability
that gives language its expressive power and
sets it apart from the communication of other
animals. Now, researchers have found a more
modest version of this ability in bonobos,
our closest living relative. The apes can
combine different calls to create new
meanings, the team reports this week in
Science.
...
Previous studies have found that other animal
species can combine their calls, but only in
rCLtrivialrCY combinations that simply add the
meanings together. Human language is much more
powerful: Speakers can combine words into more
than the sum of their parts. For instance,
rCLtall cookrCY is a trivial combinationrCoit means
someone who is tall and a cook. But rCLgood cookrCY
is not someone who is good and a cook: They
might be good at cooking, but terrible in
other areasrCoperhaps a dangerous driver. This
combination of words generates a new meaning.
...
To find out whether bonobos are capable of making
these rCLnontrivialrCY combinations, University of
Z|+rich (UZH) animal communication researcher
M|-lissa Berthet spent 8 months following wild
bonobo groups in the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Every
day, she and her guides set out at about 4 a.m.
to find the bonobos before they left their
overnight nests, then tracked them all day.
Whenever she had a clear view of their
activities, she recorded every vocalization,
along with all its context: who made it, what
they were doing, how other animals responded,
and even what the weather was like. Any number
of more than 300 contextual features could be
linked with each call. Eventually, Berthet
started to understand some of what the animals
were communicating: rCLYou see a vocalization
and then everybody moves rCa and itrCOs very
satisfying to be like, rCyAh, I think I start to
get it,rCOrCY she says.

Berthet recorded 700 different vocalizations,
many of which were combinations of two
distinct calls, like rCLwhistle and peeprCY or
rCLhigh hoot and low hoot.rCY To see whether the
animals were creating new meanings from these
combinations, the team borrowed an approach
from human language studies, statistically
analyzing how much context the vocalizations
shared with each other. (In human language,
words that occur in similar contexts tend to
be more closely related in meaning.)

Three combinations stood out: Their meanings
appeared different enough from those of their
constituent calls that they seemed to count
as nontrivial combinations. rCLHigh hoot and
low hootrCY was one of these. rCLLow hoot,rCY the
team found, is often used in situations of
high excitement, and appears to mean
something like rCLI am excited.rCY rCLHigh hootrCY is
used when bonobos want to alert others to
their presence and may mean rCLPay attention to
me.rCY But the combination of the two calls
doesnrCOt simply mean rCLI am excited, pay
attention to merCY; instead, it conveys a more
nuanced message. It is used specifically when
another individual is putting on an aggressive
display. The bonobo using this call
combination might be trying to stop the other
individual from displaying or get others in
the group to pay attention to the caller, the
authors suggest.

The findings suggest bonobos have a
rCLprecursorrCY to the human capacity to combine
units of language to create new meanings, says
senior author Simon Townsend, a primate
communication researcher at UZH. Both bonobos
and humans may have inherited the ability from
our common ancestor some 7 million years ago,
he says.
...




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From Newsgroup: sci.anthropology.paleo

On 7.4.2025. 7:22, Primum Sapienti wrote:

https://www.science.org/content/article/uniquely-human-language- capacity-found-bonobos

Human language can combine words to create
an infinite number of meaningsrCoan ability
that gives language its expressive power and
sets it apart from the communication of other
animals. Now, researchers have found a more
modest version of this ability in bonobos,
our closest living relative. The apes can
combine different calls to create new
meanings, the team reports this week in
Science.
...
Previous studies have found that other animal
species can combine their calls, but only in
rCLtrivialrCY combinations that simply add the
meanings together. Human language is much more
powerful: Speakers can combine words into more
than the sum of their parts. For instance,
rCLtall cookrCY is a trivial combinationrCoit means
someone who is tall and a cook. But rCLgood cookrCY
is not someone who is good and a cook: They
might be good at cooking, but terrible in
other areasrCoperhaps a dangerous driver. This
combination of words generates a new meaning.
...
To find out whether bonobos are capable of making
these rCLnontrivialrCY combinations, University of
Z|+rich (UZH) animal communication researcher
M|-lissa Berthet spent 8 months following wild
bonobo groups in the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Every
day, she and her guides set out at about 4 a.m.
to find the bonobos before they left their
overnight nests, then tracked them all day.
Whenever she had a clear view of their
activities, she recorded every vocalization,
along with all its context: who made it, what
they were doing, how other animals responded,
and even what the weather was like. Any number
of more than 300 contextual features could be
linked with each call. Eventually, Berthet
started to understand some of what the animals
were communicating: rCLYou see a vocalization
and then everybody moves rCa and itrCOs very
satisfying to be like, rCyAh, I think I start to
get it,rCOrCY she says.

Berthet recorded 700 different vocalizations,
many of which were combinations of two
distinct calls, like rCLwhistle and peeprCY or
rCLhigh hoot and low hoot.rCY To see whether the
animals were creating new meanings from these
combinations, the team borrowed an approach
from human language studies, statistically
analyzing how much context the vocalizations
shared with each other. (In human language,
words that occur in similar contexts tend to
be more closely related in meaning.)

Three combinations stood out: Their meanings
appeared different enough from those of their
constituent calls that they seemed to count
as nontrivial combinations. rCLHigh hoot and
low hootrCY was one of these. rCLLow hoot,rCY the
team found, is often used in situations of
high excitement, and appears to mean
something like rCLI am excited.rCY rCLHigh hootrCY is
used when bonobos want to alert others to
their presence and may mean rCLPay attention to
me.rCY But the combination of the two calls
doesnrCOt simply mean rCLI am excited, pay
attention to merCY; instead, it conveys a more
nuanced message. It is used specifically when
another individual is putting on an aggressive
display. The bonobo using this call
combination might be trying to stop the other
individual from displaying or get others in
the group to pay attention to the caller, the
authors suggest.

The findings suggest bonobos have a
rCLprecursorrCY to the human capacity to combine
units of language to create new meanings, says
senior author Simon Townsend, a primate
communication researcher at UZH. Both bonobos
and humans may have inherited the ability from
our common ancestor some 7 million years ago,
he says.
...

First, the common ancestor for sure isn't 7 mya if Danuvius is 11.6
mya. Whoever claims it is, is an idiot.
Second, this is the prime example of bias in science, if you look hard
enough you will find exactly what you want to find. Our language is far
above "high hoot" and "low hoot", and a completely different thing,
since all our communication mostly is placed above waterline (eyes, face expression, sounds). Why they don't have visible whites of the eyes, or
face expressions, if we inherited something from common ancestor.
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From Newsgroup: sci.anthropology.paleo

Primum Sapienti wrote:
> Human language can combine words to create

an infinite number of meaningsrCoan ability
that gives language its expressive power and
sets it apart from the communication of other
animals. Now, researchers have found a more
modest version of this ability in bonobos

Any child who has a dog knows there's more than
one type of bark.

And, of course, there's differences IN HUMANS
when it comes to language ability, right down
to our DNA:

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=49741

Similar != The Same

We share nearly all of our genes with Bonobos,
though the genes themselves are not identical.
--
https://jtem.tumblr.com/tagged/The%20Book%20of%20JTEM/page/5
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From Newsgroup: sci.anthropology.paleo

On 4/8/25 9:27 AM, Mario Petrinovic wrote:

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a First, the common ancestor for sure isn't 7 mya if Danuvius is
11.6 mya. Whoever claims it is, is an idiot.

The oldest of the oldest Chimpanzee fossils aren't half the age
of erectus, AND we're only talking teeth. IF and I do mean "If"
teeth are definitive then Europe was definitely our point of
origin as teeth that look like Ardi or Lucy are found there.

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Second, this is the prime example of bias in science, if you look hard enough you will find exactly what you want to find.

Nearly everything the "Find" is confirmation of Out of Africa
purity. It's policy, not science. All science that lacks an
obvious economic or national security application is politics.

Done.

Back when Dubya Bush was President everyone knew it. It was
talked about quite a lot. There's even a documentary, "A Flock
of DoDos" where scientist talk about the fear many held in
regards to performing research related to evolution, as the
Religious Reich was wielding it's influence on the grant
money...

Today, only an idiot would try to get grant money doing any
research that so much as questions Gwobull Warbling...

In a way, it's hilarious. People brush this off as "Kooky
Conspiracy" stuff even though they lived through the Bush
error I mean era (no I don't) and can just look around at
the Gwobull Warbling death grip of today... "Sure I see it
but it's Kooky Conspiracy shit to notice it or at least
acknowledge it!"
--
https://jtem.tumblr.com/tagged/The%20Book%20of%20JTEM/page/5
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