The role of dialogue in the ontogeny and phylogeny of early symbol combinations: A cross-species comparison of bonobo, chimpanzee, and human learners

Abstract

What are the evolutionary and developmental origins of linguistic creativity? Cross-species comparison of the clade consisting of bonobo, chimpanzee, and human suggests that creative word combinations arise from conversation. Analysis of conversational data shows that novel symbol combinations are initially dependent upon conversational input – through the processes of deferred imitation and joint construction – for a bonobo and a chimpanzee exposed to a humanly devised symbol system, as well as for a human child. In all three species, reliance on conversational input for novel symbol combinations fades with development, as novel symbol combinations come to be constructed more independently. These findings resolve the controversy between the claim that ape language is limited to imitation and the claim that apes are not capable of imitation. Imitation, like conversational co-construction, does not differentiate between bonobo, chimpanzee, and human; instead, imitation and co-construction differentiate stages of learning and development across all three species.