A FEATURE of language which was believed to be unique to humans has been found in monkeys’ calls too. It will cast doubt on the idea that people evolved complex language from scratch. But some researchers insist it has no such significance.
The set of rules known as syntax that link word order to meaning is something unique to humans, or so most scientists thought. But Klaus Zuberbüler at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, now claims to have identified syntax in monkey communication. He believes this strengthens the notion that language evolved much earlier than…
