From the first months of life, human infants produce “protophones,” speech-like, non-cry
sounds, presumed absent, or only minimally present in other apes. But there have been no …

How did human language evolve from earlier forms of communication? One way to address
this question is to compare prelinguistic human vocal behavior with nonhuman primate calls …

Human infant vocalization is viewed as a critical foundation for vocal learning and language.
All apes share distress sounds (shrieks and cries) and laughter. Another vocal type, speech …

The origins of speech, the most complex form of animal communication, remain a puzzle.
Human speech and nonhuman primate vocalizations have traditionally been viewed …

Trying to uncover the roots of human speech and language has been the premier motivation
to study the signalling behaviour of nonhuman primates for several decades. Focussing on …

Comparing the communicative abilities of humans and great apes is a commonly used
research strategy to understand the evolutionary foundation of modern human language …

The presence of divergent and independent research traditions in the gestural and vocal
domains of primate communication has resulted in major discrepancies in the definition and …

Humans speak, monkeys grunt, and ducks quack. How do we come to know which
vocalizations animals produce? Here we explore this question by asking whether young …

Over the past several decades, researchers interested in comparing vocal communication in
nonhuman primates and humans have tended to adopt one of two quite different positions …

How did vocal language originate? Before trying to determine how referential vocabulary or
syntax may have arisen, it is critical to explain how ancient hominins began to produce …