We analyzed whether the recipients’ response varied depending on the signaler’s usage of a given gesture + face combination and the context in which these were used. Based on a form-based coding procedure of the collected video footage, we identified two frequently used manual gestures (stretched arm gesture and bent arm gesture) and two facial expression (bared teeth face and funneled lip face). Furthermore, we expect context-dependent usage of these combinations. If there are compositional structures in chimpanzee communication, adding a facial expression to a gesture should convey a different message than the gesture alone, a difference that we expect to be measurable by the recipient’s response. We investigated two semi-wild groups of chimpanzees, with focus on their manual gestures and their combinations with facial expressions across different social contexts. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to investigate whether there is evidence for compositional structures in the communication of chimpanzees. While it is known that chimpanzees, our closest relatives, produce a variety of gestures, facial expressions and vocalizations in interactions with their group members, little is known about how these signals combine simultaneously. Comparative research into the emergence of human language aims at identifying precursors to such key features of human language in the communication of other primates. Compositionality is a defining characteristic of all human language, spoken and signed. Compositionality refers to a structural property of human language, according to which the meaning of a complex expression is a function of the meaning of its parts and the way they are combined.
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