Video of 'chimpanzee speaking human language' scientifically confirmed to be genuine
A video of a chimpanzee saying 'mama' has been scientifically recognized as speaking human language. Until now, it was assumed that only humans can make meaningful sounds due to differences in the brains of primates, but it has emerged that this may be a mistaken assumption.
Chimpanzee utterances refute purported missing links for novel vocalizations and syllabic speech | Scientific Reports
Astonishing Videos Capture Chimpanzees Saying Actual Human Words : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/astonishing-videos-capture-chimpanzees-saying-actual-human-words
Axel Ekström, a phonetician and cognitive scientist at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and his colleagues have argued that a video of a chimpanzee saying 'mama' is scientifically sound human speech.
The team looked at two online videos and found that two unrelated chimpanzees from different continents were heard to say a word that sounded similar to 'mama,' likely taught to them by an English-speaking caretaker.
One of the videos in question was of a chimpanzee named Johnny, born in 1944 and kept at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Florida, USA, who was filmed calling out to a zookeeper, 'Mama.' In the video, the zookeeper asks Johnny, 'Can you say mommy?' and Johnny responds in a low voice. Johnny passed away on March 30, 2007.
Chimpanzee Talking - YouTube
It has been argued that the word 'mama' may have been one of the first words to appear in human speech because the 'm' sound is common in human languages and is often one of the first sounds made by human babies. Also, the 'm-vowel-m' pattern is a relatively easy sound for humans to pronounce.
Combining this with previous research analysing recordings of chimpanzees recorded in the 1960s saying things like 'daddy' and 'cup', Ekstrom argues that chimpanzees' brains are capable of intentionally imitating at least some of the sounds they hear.
These results support the idea that great apes are vocal learners, and suggest that the auditory vocalization system in the nervous system may be much older than previously thought. In addition, it has been pointed out that 'humans can spontaneously coordinate their jaws with speech, but other primates do not have a similar function, and there is a missing link between the two,' suggesting that there is no missing link in speech between chimpanzees and humans.
The person who posted Johnny's video said, 'Johnny called everyone 'Mom'' and 'Johnny knew that if he said 'Mom' at a meal, he could get anything he wanted.'
Wild chimpanzees generally communicate through gestures rather than sounds, but chimpanzees have been shown to use a variety of vocalizations, and their gestural communication is known to be structured similarly to human vocalizations. Gibbons have also been observed making over 20 different types of sounds with different meanings.
'Great apes can pronounce human words,' Ekstrom and his team concluded, and pointed out that the reason they have not been able to prove this until now is 'the fault of the researchers, not the animals.'
◆ Forum is currently open
A forum related to this article has been set up on the official GIGAZINE Discord server . Anyone can post freely, so please feel free to comment! If you do not have a Discord account, please refer to the account creation procedure article to create an account!
• Discord | 'Have you ever talked to animals?' | GIGAZINE
https://discord.com/channels/1037961069903216680/1270308839211663420
Related Posts:
