Dear BERGers, This Wednesday (4pm) we have a seminar with Dr Melissa Berthet (University of Rennes) giving a talk entitled "Bonobo vocal communication and the evolution of compositionality" (abstract below). The meeting will be held online (link below). Abstract: Compositionality- the capacity to combine meaningful elements into larger structures whose meaning depends on the meanings of the parts and the way they are combined- is a hallmark of human language. In this talk, I will present new findings on the compositional capacities of wild bonobos. Specifically, by conducting a comprehensive investigation of meaning and adapting methods from linguistics, I will show that bonobo vocal communication extensively relies on compositionality. This suggests that the ability to construct complex meanings from smaller vocal units was already present in our ancestors at least 7 million years ago. Link to the meeting: BERG research seminars | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fteams.microsoft.com%2Fmeet%2F3816460052135%3Fp%3DxsEIefROgXSXlZHxc0&data=05%7C02%7Cpawel.fedurek%40stir.ac.uk%7C1bc391692517484f928208ddff28eef8%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C638947273516325922%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=NVfYEejdJFIzArh77n12V8FzGFjxvJM9z4EWy1uSZqs%3D&reserved=0<https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3816460052135?p=xsEIefROgXSXlZHxc0>> BERG seminar schedule (Fall 2025) Date Speaker Affiliation Title Chair Format 12-Nov-25 Mélissa Berthet University of Rennes tbc: vocal behaviour in bonobos Pawel Online 19-Nov-25 Eleonore Rolland Eleonore Rolland tbc: mother-infant attachment in wild chimpanzees Pawel Online 26-Nov-25 TBC Clare 03-Dec-25 Floriane Fournier Université Jean Monnet "tbc: The role of nonlinear phenomena in vocal emotional expression and perception in bonobos " Pawel Online 10-Dec-25 Faye Whiley The Missing Lynx Project tbc: Social science in stakeholder engagement for lynx co-existence Clare Online ________________________________ Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159