THE LANGUAGE OF JAPANESE MACAQUES

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Study: Monkeys Have Accents Too

*AFP*

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*Dec. 2, 2005 *— To the untrained ear monkeys of a certain species may all

sound the same, but Japanese researchers have found that, like human beings,

they actually have an accent depending on where they live.

 

The finding, the first of its kind, will be published Monday in the December

edition of a German scientific journal *Ethology*, the primate researchers

said Tuesday.

 

" Differences between chattering by monkeys are like dialects of human

beings, " said Nobuo Masataka, professor of ethology at Kyoto University's

Primate Research Institute.

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The research team analyzed voice tones of two groups of the same species of

primates, the Japanese Yakushima macaque also known as *Macaca fuscata yakui

*, between 1990 and 2000.

 

One group was formed by 23 monkeys living on the southern Japanese island of

Yakushima, and the other group comprised 30 descendants from the same tribe

moved from the island to Mount Ohira, central Japan, in 1956.

 

The result showed that the island group had a tone about 110 hertz higher on

average than the one taken to central Japan.

 

Monkeys on Yakushima Island have an accent with a higher tone because tall

trees on the island tend to block their voices, Masataka said.

 

" On the other hand, monkeys on Mount Ohira do not have to gibber with a high

tone as trees there are low, " he said. " Each group adopted their own accent

depending upon their environment. "

 

This suggests differences in voice tones are not caused by genes, Masataka

said, adding the results " may lead to a clue to the origin of human

language. "