Wild chimpanzees alter the meaning of single calls when embedding them into diverse call combinations, mirroring linguistic operations in human language. Human language, however, allows an infinite ...

Humans are the only species on Earth known to use language. They do this by combining sounds into words and words into ...

Chimpanzees combine hoots, calls and grunts to convey far more concepts than with single sounds alone. It may be a first among nonhuman animals.

Does knowing a language mean knowing a lot of words, or how to speak it properly? The answer largely depends on your goals.