language evolution

Rocky spent his first few years raised by people, and is particularly attuned to human speech and behavior, researchers say. But his remarkable ability to learn and match human pitch and common sounds of speech surprised them.

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Orangutan's Vocal Feats Hint At Deeper Roots of Human Speech

9:50am March 14, 2017

by Jon Hamilton

Rocky wowed scientists when he showed he could control his vocal cords much the way people do. His abilities suggest that early humans might have spoken words 10 million years ago.

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Monkeys' vocal equipment can produce the sounds of human speech, research shows, but they lack the connections between the auditory and motor parts of the brain that humans rely on to imitate words.

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Say, What? Monkey Mouths And Throats Are Equipped For Speech

2:58pm December 09, 2016

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Monkeys weren't thought to have the right sort of vocal tracts to speak. But a study finds they can make many sounds common in human speech; it's just that their brains aren't "language ready."

Tilda the orangutan, relaxing between gabfests at the Cologne Zoo.

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Health & Safety

From The Mouths Of Apes, Babble Hints At Origins of Human Speech

8:56am January 16, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

You say banana; this orangutan says ... well, it's hard to tell what she's saying. But the rhythmic, speechlike sounds of the zoo-dwelling ape have started scientists talking.

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