Scientists have found that chimpanzees communicate "like a human", only instead of words, they use gestures. The researchers came to such conclusions after viewing 359 videos of primates living in the Budongo forest reserve in Uganda. Experts managed to identify 58 basic types of gestures that help great apes "talk" to each other. It is noteworthy that chimpanzees follow linguistic rules in building their "speech".
Scientists from the University of Rohampton (UK) have found that chimpanzees communicate “like a human”, only instead of words they use gestures. It turned out that in building their "speech" primates follow two linguistic rules. According to the first, Zipf's law, the most used words are always short. Another rule, Menzerat's law, states that the longer the linguistic structure, in this case, the word, the shorter its components, that is, the syllables.
The scientists made the discovery after watching 359 videos in which chimpanzees communicate with each other. The "test subjects" lived in the Budongo Forest in Uganda.
In total, experts recorded 2,137 gestures that 48 chimpanzees used when communicating. The researchers divided non-verbal signs into 58 types, and also analyzed their speed.
Experts found that most often chimpanzees used short gestures when communicating, and long ones, in turn, were composed of short gestures, as if from syllables.
Primatologists noted that deaf and dumb people also use sign language when communicating, which obeys two rules of linguistics - Zipf and Menzerat.
Recall that in the process of communication, great apes also make sounds and change their facial expressions. Last year, scientists discovered that chimpanzees and human babies use the same sign language. The "vocabulary" of monkeys and small children (up to two years old) coincided by 96%.
