Overlooked evidence for semantic compositionality and signal reduction in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Title (croatian): Previđeni dokazi za semantičku kompozicionalnost i redukciju signala kod divljih čimpanzi (Pan troglodytes)
• Author: Petar Gabrić https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2644-194X
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; General Linguistics
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: INTERDISCIPLINARY AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE; Cognitive Science (Natural, Technical, Biomedical and Healthcare, Social and Humanistic Sciences)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: NATURAL SCIENCES; Biology; Zoology
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: NATURAL SCIENCES; Biology; Genetics, Evolution and Phylogenetics
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Psychology; General Psychology

Abstract (english)

Recent discoveries of semantic compositionality in Japanese tits have enlivened the discussions on the presence of this phenomenon in wild animal communication. Data on semantic compositionality in wild apes are lacking, even though language experiments with captive apes have demonstrated they are capable of semantic compositionality. In this paper, I revisit the study by Boesch (Hum. Evol. 6:81–89, 1991) who investigated drumming sequences by an alpha male in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) community in the Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. A reanalysis of the data reveals that the alpha male produced semantically compositional combined messages of travel direction change and resting period initiation. Unlike the Japanese tits, the elements of the compositional expression were not simply juxtaposed but displayed structural reduction, while one of the two elements in the expression coded the meanings of both elements. These processes show relative resemblance to blending and fusion in human languages. Also unlike the tits, the elements of the compositional expression did not have a fixed order, although there was a fixed distribution of drumming events across the trees used for drumming. Because the elements of the expression appear to carry verb-like meanings, the compositional expression also resembles simple verb-verb constructions and short paratactic combinations of two clauses found across languages. In conclusion, the reanalysis suggests that semantic compositionality and phenomena resembling paratactic combinations of two clauses might have been present in the communication of the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, not necessarily in the vocal modality.

• Keywords (english): chimpanzee communication; animal communication; language evolution; semantic compositionality; non-vocal communication
• Keywords (croatian): komunikacija čimpanzi; životinjska komunikacija; evolucija jezika; semantička kompozicionalnost; nevokalna komunikacija
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Animal Cognition
• BPC: 2590.00 EUR
• p-ISSN: 1435-9448
• e-ISSN: 1435-9456
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01584-3
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:709733
• Online first: 2021-11-25
• Document URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-021-01584-3
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Public note: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
• Created on: 2021-11-25 18:16:36