Monkey Syntax
It seems that the Campbell’s Mona Monkey of the Ivory Coast uses syntax in its communication:
If the Zuberbühler team’s observations are correct, the Campbell’s monkeys can both vary the meaning of specific calls by adding suffixes and combine calls to generate a different meaning. Their call system, the researchers write, “may be the most complex example of ‘proto-syntax’ in animal communication known to date.”
I’m sure these little guys couldn’t learn sign language, and that’s a shame.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 12:32 am and is filed under animals, language, neuroscience, science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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