12 Nov
2025
12 Nov
'25
8 a.m.
Dear BERGers,
A quick reminder that today at 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%2F…
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
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