I have already touched upon how our simian relatives seem to be making strides in communication with language here. Now word comes from the Ivory Coast that it appears that the Campbell’s monkey in the Tai National Park there is able to take its simple calls (“hok hok hok!” or “boom boom”) and combine them to relay messages that involve the two calls. This is yet another step in the progression from grunting primate to multilingual translator/editor/proofreader (who also grunts on occasion).
Obviously, true evolution takes much longer to take place, but these small steps are significant parts of the process and, should they be true, are amazing to observe from a scientific perspective. Watching how monkeys begin to incorporate and adapt their language might give us possible insights to how our human ancestors created and developed their language hundreds of thousands of years ago.
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Tags: communication, evolution, grammar, language, monkeys
