Linguists go bananas over chimp talk

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(JJ - 2nd April 2009)

After years of carrying out extensive research trying to find evidence to support their hypothesis that Bonobo chimpanzees are capable of developing human linguistic skills, scientists are claiming this week that they have finally found conclusive proof that humans are not the only mammal that can ‘talk’.

Studies of Bonobos’ comprehension of human language have been going on for years, with linguists such as Sue Savage-Rumbaugh of Georgia State University (USA) publishing countless research papers focusing on the way in which apes can be taught to recognise basic human words. Well known among today’s psycholinguists and anthropologists is the case of Kanzi, an adult female Bonobo chimp who was able to demonstrate understanding of simple instructions issued in verbal form by Savage-Rumbaugh and her co-researchers. But this considers only the comprehension of human language – and let’s face it, even dogs can be taught to obey basic commands such as ‘sit’ and ‘walkies’ (not that I’ve got anything against dogs, you understand – I’ve met some very intelligent dogs in my time, to be fair… smelly, like most dogs, but intelligent nonetheless). Anyway, where was I… yes, even dogs can be taught to understand some basic human words. It’s one thing to say that Bonobos can understand what humans are saying, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are capable of language production. Even Savage-Rumbaugh’s evidence suggesting that these primates can be taught to use basic sign language as a means of communicating on a superficial level does not really provide convincing proof of the existence of an ‘articulate ape’.

But that’s all about to change! In research that is due to be published this week, another team of linguists from the Department of Linguistic Science at University of Thistlebeer Oaks in the USA are claiming that, given the appropriate exposure to a basic model of human language, Bonobos can actually acquire the ability to use human language in its verbal form and to hold spoken conversations with humans.

For the past six years, Professor of Linguistics Juan Foronign has led a small team of researchers who have lived 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the company of a pack of wild Bonobos deep in the heart of the jungle in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Prof Foronign recalls that at first the Bonobos were very wary of the researchers’ presence and it took “more than 18 months for the Bonobos to start behaving normally” in the presence of the team of linguists. However, once the researchers had become part of the furniture, so to speak, “the Bonobos began to lighten up… and this was when [the researchers] started to observe some very interesting behavioural patterns”. What the professor goes on to describe in the preview to his forthcoming publication Bonobo Chimpanzees and the Acquisition of Human Speech is nothing short of breathtaking.








“After some time living with the chimps, one of the younger Bonobos started to become very friendly with some of the researchers, and would actively seek out their company. At the very start of our research project we had named all of our Bonobos after famous linguists and anthropologists, and this was the chimp that we had called Rillfeul (after a mid-20th century psycholinguist whose work was among the earliest to focus on the language skills of primates). Rillfeul, a young male, would interact with the team, offering them food and ‘inviting’ them to play with him. Part of this interaction would involve certain basic vocalisations, and it was only when our researchers began to observe certain patterns of sounds and consistent responses to the same stimuli that we began to notice something more than just basic ‘chimp noises’ going on.”

The scene that Prof Foronign goes on to describe is fascinating… and more than a little unnerving. He explains that, as time went on, the behaviour of this particular Bonobo would become more and more human-like, and that he would mimic certain body language features and, more significantly, linguistic vocalisations of the researchers. The two linguists to whom Rillfeul became most closely attached were both native to the Congo, and both spoke Swahili as their first language. Amazingly, Prof Foronign goes on to describe what he claims to be the acquisition of elements of Swahili by this primate:

“At first it would just be the odd word here and there, and our first thoughts were that it was just a coincidence that Rillfeul was using what sounded like Swahili lexemes. But after a while we could not ignore the fact that these lexemes were being used at the appropriate times – in other words, the Bonobo would use a specific word in relation to the object – or even concept – for which a human speaker would use it.”

This went on for four or five years, and Prof Foronign describes a pattern of language development during that time that was not unlike that of human babies – that is to say that Rillfeul gradually developed the skills to articulate fully-formed complex, multi-word sentences, and to use these accurately and appropriately in communicating with humans. Furthermore, as the linguistic skills of this chimp developed, the researchers also began to observe signs of verbal linguistic behaviour emerging in Rillfeul’s mate, the young female they had named Rank (after American cognitive linguist Mary-Jane Rank). The research that is to be published later this week shares with the world the linguists’ astounding observations of this process of language development in these two primates:

“These two Bonobos – recorded in our research files simply as Ape Rillfeul and Ape Rank – are without a doubt the first primates to have acquired human language – specifically Swahili”.

In presenting his team’s findings at the 2009 Psycholinguistics Symposium in Geneva later this year, Prof Foronign is expected to show a video of Rillfeul, the male, articulating in very clear Swahili “Hyor s’ohgh ullib li’fyu buhll ee’fen yofth iss” which, roughly translated, means “Would you like to share my bananas with me”. On the same video footage (which you can access on YouTube by typing in “Ape Rillfeul’s Day Has Come” – but which cannot be linked here because of the college web filter doodah) the primate can also be heard saying “aymjh ust’wayn d’inyupph” which in Swahili means something along the lines of “I’ve an awful itch, old friend, I don’t suppose you would mind scratching my back for me please”. Astoundingly, Ape Rank obliges!

So what do you think? Evidence that ‘we are not alone’ after all when it comes to the one thing that most people argue distinguishes us from the animals, or just a load of monkey business? Post a comment below and have your say.