Compositionality, the capacity to combine meaningful elements into larger meaningful structures, is a hallmark of human language. Compositionality can be trivial (combination’s meaning is the sum of the meaning of its parts) or nontrivial (one element modifies the meaning of the other element). In new research, scientists studied the vocal behavior of wild bonobos (Pan paniscus) — our closest living relatives — in the Kokolopori Community Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo and discovered robust empirical evidence for the presence of nontrivial compositionality in these primates.
Tupac, a young male bonobo scratching its head. Image credit: Lukas Bierhoff, Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project.
A hallmark characteristic of human language is its ability to…