Sixty years ago, scientists embarked on an experiment to teach American Sign Language to chimpanzees—and ultimately prove humans are not alone in our ability to use language. The experiment was a ...

New research suggests wild chimpanzees have developed a far more nuanced communication system than previously realized, using several mechanisms that combine their vocalizations to create new meaning.

How can one teach language to a chimpanzee who is unable to produce the basic sounds of spoken language (phonemes)? Extensive research has shown they can’t. Two approaches, each using a visual ...

Humans are known to invent private hand gestures. Chimps in the wild do, too, a new study suggests. By Brandon Keim Parents and their children, or people who know each other well, often share some ...

Wild chimpanzees alter the meaning of single calls when embedding them into diverse call combinations, mirroring linguistic operations in human language. Human language, however, allows an infinite ...

When we think about what sets humans apart from other animals, language often comes to mind. Language is more than words—it also relies on the ability to build shared understanding through ...