scholarly journals Overlooked evidence for non-juxtaposed conjunctive semantic compositionality in wild chimpanzees?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petar Gabrić
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
National Park ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
Alpha Male ◽  
Taï National Park ◽  
Direction Change ◽  
Semantic Compositionality ◽  
Resting Period ◽  
Movement Test

Recent discoveries of semantic compositionality in Japanese tits have enlivened the discussions on the presence of this phenomenon in animal communication. However, data on semantic compositionality in primates are lacking. In this paper, I revisit the study by Boesch [1991 (Hum Evol 6:81-89] 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, similar to the Japanese tits, the alpha male produced conjunctively (“additively”) combined messages of travel direction change and resting period initiation. Unlike the Japanese tits, the elements of the conjunctive message were not simply juxtaposed but displayed structural reduction reminiscent of fusion in human languages. Also unlike the Japanese tits, the elements of the conjunctive message did not pass the movement test for syntactic constituents. Additionally, limited data possibly point to processes similar to reduplication in human languages.

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

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petar Gabrić
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Alpha Male ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Fixed Order ◽  
Semantic Compositionality ◽  
Fixed Distribution ◽  
Resting Period

AbstractRecent 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.

Managing a speared alpha male chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) in Kibale National Park, Uganda

2011 ◽  
Vol 169 (25) ◽  
pp. 658-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Hyeroba ◽  
P. Apell ◽  
E. Otali
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
National Park ◽  
Kibale National Park ◽  
Alpha Male

scholarly journals Genome Sequences of Polyomaviruses from the Wild-Living Red Colobus ( Piliocolobus badius ) and Western Chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes verus )

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Ben Salem ◽  
Fabian H. Leendertz ◽  
Bernhard Ehlers
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Cote D'ivoire ◽  
National Park ◽  
Côte D’Ivoire ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Verus ◽  
Red Colobus ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
Taï National Park ◽  
Tai National Park ◽  
Free Ranging

We identified with PCR and sequencing the full genomes of the recently discovered Pan troglodytes verus polyomavirus 8 and Piliocolobus badius polyomavirus 2 in a western chimpanzee and a western red colobus free-ranging in Taï National Park of Côte d’Ivoire.

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