Chimpanzee gestural exhanges share temporal structure with human language
Abstract
Humans regularly engage in efficient communicative conversations, which serve to socially align individuals1 . In conversations, we take fast-paced turns using a human-universal structure of deploying and receiving signals which shows consistent timing across cultures2 . We report here that chimpanzees also engage in rapid signal-to-signal turn-taking during face-to-face gestural exchanges with a similar average latency between turns to that of human conversation. This correspondence between human and chimpanzee face-to-face communication points to shared underlying rules in communication. These structures could be derived from shared ancestral mechanisms or convergent strategies that enhance coordinated interactions or manage competition for communicative ‘space’.
Citation
Badihi , G , Graham , K E , Grund , C V C , Safryghin , A , Soldati , A , Donnellan , E , Hashimoto , C , Mine , J G , Piel , A K , Stewart , F , Slocombe , K E , Wilke , C , Townsend , S W , Zuberbühler , K , Zulberti , C & Hobaiter , C 2024 , ' Chimpanzee gestural exhanges share temporal structure with human language ' , Current Biology , vol. 34 , no. 14 , pp. 673-674 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.06.009
Publication
Current Biology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0960-9822Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: G.B., C.Ho., A.Sa., and K.E.G. were supported by funding from the European Research Council under the Gestural Origins Grant No: 802719. K.E.S. and C.W. were supported by funding from the European Research Council under Grant No. ERC_CoG2016_724608 for data collected in Kibale. K.E.G. was supported by the Russell Trust Award from the University of St Andrews for data collection in Kalinzu. S.W.T. and C.Z. were funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number: PP00P3_198912).Collections
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