Accents reveal more than where someone grew up. They carry clues about social identity, community membership and personal history. New research suggests that this phenomenon extends beyond humans: young chimpanzees develop population-specific vocal patterns as they mature, meaning chimpanzees have accents too. The study, led by Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with scientists in the University of Portsmouth’s School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences, was published in the journal PLOS One and provides a new way of understanding how communication develops in our closest living relatives.
For years, scientists assumed that chimpanzee calls were largely inflexible and determined by genetics. This new evidence challenges that view. By tracking how vocal behaviour changes from infancy through the juvenile years, the research team demonstrated that primate communication is more flexible, dynamic and socially shaped than previously recognised. Anyone monitoring Portsmouth University news will recognise this as another significant contribution from the UK institution to the study of animal behaviour and ontogenetic evolution.
Readers who want to examine the data in full can read the complete study in PLOS One, and those considering a career in this field can explore psychology programmes at the University of Portsmouth.
How Researchers Discovered That Chimpanzees Have Accents
Comparing two separated chimpanzee populations
The research team compared the vocalisations of infant and juvenile chimpanzees from two geographically separated populations. Rather than focusing on a single call type, the researchers analysed a range of sounds, including grunts, whimpers and laughter. This broad approach allowed them to detect subtle differences in how the two groups produced and used their vocal signals.
The results were striking. Differences between the two groups became more pronounced as the animals grew older, suggesting that vocal behaviour continues to develop throughout early life. Some population-specific vocal characteristics were already present in infancy, while others emerged during the juvenile years. This developmental pattern indicates that social interactions, environmental conditions and other non-genetic influences all contribute to shaping how young chimpanzees communicate.
Why a developmental approach changed the picture
Previous research often compared adult animals from different populations, which made it difficult to determine whether vocal differences were innate or learned. By focusing on how communication changes over time rather than simply comparing adults, the team produced the first evidence that population-specific vocal differences become increasingly distinct during chimpanzee development. In practical terms, this means young chimpanzees from different communities produce subtly different vocal patterns — an arrangement directly analogous to the regional accents that distinguish human communities.
Ontogenetic Evolution: A New Lens for Studying Primate Communication
The study’s most important contribution may be methodological. By examining vocal development through an ontogenetic lens — that is, by studying how traits emerge and change as an individual matures — the research provides a valuable framework for investigating how communication systems emerge and diversify within animal populations. Ontogenetic evolution, in this context, refers to the developmental processes that produce population-specific differences in vocal behaviour.
This framework matters because it shifts attention from static comparisons to developmental processes. Instead of asking whether adults in one population sound different from adults in another, researchers can now ask when those differences appear, how they change, and which factors drive them. Those questions open new lines of enquiry not only for chimpanzee research but for the study of vocal learning across species.
The findings also add to a growing body of evidence that primate communication is more flexible and dynamic than previously recognised. For students and researchers following developments in this field, keeping up with Portsmouth University news and similar sources from across the UK is one of the most reliable ways to track how scientific understanding of animal communication continues to evolve.
Social and Environmental Factors Behind Chimpanzee Dialects
What causes young chimpanzees to develop these population-specific vocal patterns? The study points to a combination of influences rather than a single cause. Social interactions within a community, the ecological conditions of a particular habitat, and other non-genetic factors all appear to shape vocal development. Young chimpanzees, it seems, adjust their communication to fit their social and physical environment — much as human children absorb the accent of the community around them.
Dr Marina Davila Ross, Associate Professor in Comparative Psychology at the University of Portsmouth and co-author of the study, emphasised the value of this developmental perspective. Looking closely at what young apes can and cannot do in vocal communication, compared with adult apes, provides important clues about how human language evolved, she noted. Studying dialects from a comparative developmental perspective also reveals how variable ape communication can be, and how important it is for young individuals to adapt their communication to their social and ecological environment.
What Chimpanzee Accents Mean for Understanding Human Language
The researchers are careful about the limits of their claims. The study does not suggest that chimpanzees possess language or human-like speech, which involves agreed grammar and a shared lexicon. What it does demonstrate convincingly is that vocal development in chimpanzees is influenced by more than genetics alone. Population-specific vocal patterns emerge and become more pronounced during development, shaped by biological and environmental factors working together.
This distinction is important. Human speech rests on capacities that likely built on older foundations — vocal flexibility, social learning and developmental plasticity. Evidence that our closest relatives show population-level vocal variation during development suggests these foundations run deep in the primate lineage. Understanding how they operate in chimpanzees may help researchers reconstruct the steps through which complex communication systems evolved.
A Broader Research Programme at the University of Portsmouth
The chimpanzee accent study forms part of a wider body of work on primate communication conducted at the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, part of the School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Health.
Fifteen million years of shared laughter
In a separate study published in Communications Biology, Dr Davila Ross and colleagues showed that great apes may have been laughing with a rhythm similar to that of modern humans for over 15 million years. The finding provides an unexpected clue to how human speech evolved, suggesting that the vocal rhythms underlying laughter predate the split between the human and great ape lineages.
Precise facial mirroring during play
Earlier research by the same team demonstrated that orangutans and chimpanzees mirror one another’s laugh faces with remarkable precision during play — a level of facial communication previously thought to be uniquely human. Related work on macaques found that socially tolerant species show better impulse control, adding further evidence that social life and self-regulation are intertwined across the primate family.
Together, these studies paint a picture of primate communication as rich, flexible and developmentally shaped. Explore the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology to see how researchers compare humans with other animals to study the origins of behaviour.
Studying Comparative Psychology in the UK
For students interested in primate communication, animal behaviour and evolutionary psychology, the University of Portsmouth offers a clear route into this field. The Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology studies evolutionary processes by comparing humans with other animals, examining the origins of behaviour across species. Students in the School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences can engage with research that ranges from vocal development in apes to the psychology of health and sport.
The chimpanzee accent study also illustrates the collaborative and international character of modern research careers. The project was led by doctoral researcher Kassandra Giragosian at Queen Mary University of London, co-authored by Dr Davila Ross in Portsmouth and Derry Taylor of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences Marc Jeannerod. Contributions came from multiple institutions — a reminder that research in comparative psychology frequently crosses institutional and national boundaries.
Prospective postgraduate researchers can investigate PhD opportunities at the University of Portsmouth, where doctoral students work alongside academics on projects in comparative and evolutionary psychology. Those earlier in their academic journey can browse undergraduate psychology courses to build the foundations for a research career.
Key Takeaways From the Chimpanzee Accent Study
- Chimpanzees develop dialects: young chimpanzees from different populations produce subtly different vocal patterns, and these differences become more pronounced with age.
- Genetics is not the whole story: vocal development is shaped by social interactions, environmental conditions and other non-genetic influences.
- Development matters: examining communication through an ontogenetic lens reveals processes that static comparisons of adults miss.
- Human language has deep roots: while chimpanzees do not possess language, the flexibility of their vocal development offers clues about the foundations on which human speech evolved.
- UK research leads the field: the collaboration between the University of Portsmouth and Queen Mary University of London demonstrates the strength of UK primate communication research.
The Future of Primate Communication Research
The discovery that chimpanzees have accents does more than add an interesting fact to the catalogue of animal behaviour. It provides a new way of understanding ontogenetic evolution and a framework that other researchers can apply to vocal development in a wide range of species. Future studies can use the same developmental approach to ask when vocal differences emerge, which social and ecological factors shape them, and how they relate to the evolution of communication more broadly.
For now, the study stands as a clear demonstration that primate communication is more flexible and dynamic than once believed. Young chimpanzees, like young humans, grow into the sounds of their communities — a finding that brings the science of animal communication one step closer to explaining how human language came to be.
Have questions about this research or about studying psychology at Portsmouth? Write to the University of Portsmouth to find out more. If you found this article useful, share it with fellow students and researchers, and follow Portsmouth University news for the latest findings from the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology.
