Old videos of chimpanzees suggest they are capable of speech

A recent study published in Scientific Reports by a team of speech specialists and psychologists from Sweden, the U.K., and Switzerland has found evidence suggesting that chimpanzees can learn to speak human words under certain conditions. The researchers analyzed old videos of three chimpanzees, which showed them attempting to vocalize words like "mama" and "papa." This challenges the long-held belief that only humans have evolved the capability for speech. The debate surrounding this topic has centered on whether the differences in speech abilities are due to physiological factors in the throat or neurological differences in the brain. Some researchers have posited that great apes, including chimpanzees, may possess a rudimentary ability to speak human words. The study revisits earlier, discredited claims of a husband-and-wife team who raised a chimpanzee and attempted to teach it simple words, which were criticized for ethical reasons. The current research sought to validate these earlier findings by examining video evidence of similar training efforts. The chimps' pronunciations were noted to differ from human speech but were described as "essentially word-like," indicating that, with appropriate training, chimpanzees may be capable of rudimentary speech. This study adds to the ongoing discourse about the cognitive and communicative abilities of great apes and their potential for language-like vocalizations.