Some of the fundamental ways in which language is organized is shared with chimpanzee gesture. They use gestures to communicate all of their day-to-day requests.
SARAH SLOAT: ‘Scientists have identified 66 gestures that chimps use to communicate, theorizing that they resemble human language. Now, a new study shows these gestures actually follow human linguistic rules, revealing how our own language evolved. In a paper released in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, international scientists report that the chimpanzees of the Sonso community in Uganda’s Budongo Forest Reserve, who they have observed for a long time, use language that is mathematically similar to our own. Co-author Cat Hobaiter, Ph.D., a lecturer at the University of St. Andrews, observed these wild chimps while conducting the first systematic study of their gestures.
“It’s an incredible privilege to spend time with them — observing their lives in the forest; getting to know them as individuals,” Hobaiter tells Inverse. “When you first work with chimps there’s a lot of noise and chaos! But with more time, you get to see that they use gestures to communicate all of their day-to-day requests, like ‘Come here,’ ‘I want that,’ ‘Get lost!’” In this study, Hobaiter and her colleagues recorded the chimpanzees using gestural communication during social play…
“A lot of research has focused on exploring the similarities between primate vocalizations and language, but we’ve been able to show that there are several unique features in ape gestures,” Hobaiter says. “That means they probably played an important role in early hominin communication. This is another piece in the puzzle — some of the fundamental ways in which language is organized is shared with chimpanzee gesture” we’ve been able to show that there are several unique features in ape gestures… Chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans share 98.8 percent of their DNA, so it stands to reason we may all share communication techniques as well’. SOURCE…
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