Scientists have discovered that there are monkeys that can form sounds into meaningful "phrases" like humans

They are able to combine sounds in combinations, and these combinations carry new meaning - like words in sentences, according to an article in The Conversation.

For many years, scientists believed that only humans had this ability. But during field research in the reserve Kokolopori (Democratic Republic of Congo) researchers found evidence to the contrary.

How they deciphered the "language" of bonobos

First, the scientists described each situation in which a particular sound was issued: whether there are other monkeys, food, danger, what did the bonobo himself after the sound. In this way, they were able to understand what single cries like "I'm scared", "I'm going to go now" or "I see a predator" meant.

The researchers then began to study how bonobos combined sounds. They determined that some combinations carry not just the sum of the meanings of two separate sounds, but modify each other - as in human phrases. For example, as in the expression "bad dancer," the word "bad" refers specifically to dancing, not to humans in general.

Sound "grammar" monkeys

To prove that bonobos use compositionality (that is, creating new meanings from combinations of sounds), scientists developed a "semantic space" - a system that shows how the meanings of sounds and their combinations are related.

It turns out that:

• almost every sound can participate in different combinations, like words in human phrases;

• the meaning of a combination is often different from the simple addition of meanings;

• some combinations have complex grammars.

This means that bonobos don't just have a collection of random sounds, but an elaborate system of communication.

What this means for science

The discovery suggests that the ancestors of humans, who lived 6-7 million years ago, could also have the rudiments of such a "language" ability. This means that the basis for language emerged long before Homo sapiens.

The study also offers a new way to decipher animal communication. Perhaps other species use more meaning in their sounds than we thought.