文字稿

科學家們用數年時間仔細聆聽了我們的類人猿近親 —— 紅毛猩猩與同伴交流時發出的尖叫聲，該研究為解釋人類語言的形成過程提供了線索。英國杜倫大學的阿德里亞諾·拉梅哈（ Adriano Reis e Lameira ）博士錄制并分析了這些動物發出的近  5000 段“吻叫”，它們雙唇緊閉的嘴型很像人類語言中輔音的發聲方式。他還發現紅毛猩猩會通過組合音節向同伴傳達不同的信息。請聽 Victoria Gill 的報道。

The researchers spent thousands of hours listening to these communicative ‘kiss squeaks’, analysing almost 5,000 squeaks from 48 individual orangutans.

They homed in on these sounds in particular because they’re formed in a similar way to our consonants. Just like our /t/ and /p/ sounds, kiss squeaks are made using the lips and tongue to control air flow rather than using the voice in calling out.

With this painstaking listening exercise and observing the animals as they communicated, the team revealed that orangutans combine multiple kiss squeaks in different orders, apparently conveying different messages. The scientists say that’s an early glimpse of how our ancestors began to combine consonants and vowels, and that these could be the purse-lipped building blocks of our very earliest multi-syllable words.

詞匯表

squeaks 短促的尖叫
orangutans 紅毛猩猩
homed in on 重點關注了
consonants 輔音
air flow 氣流
painstaking 煞費苦心的，費盡心思的
glimpse 短暫的感受或理解
vowels 元音
purse-lipped 雙唇緊閉的
building blocks 主要構造，基本要素
multi-syllable 多音節的

測驗

請聽報道并回答下列問題。

1. How many individual orangutans were involved in the study?

2. Why did the researchers put focus on the 'kiss squeaks' in particular? 

3. True or false? Kiss squeaks are made using the voice.

4. Which word in the text means 'the early forms of species from which others have evolved'?

答案

1. How many individual orangutans were involved in the study?
There were 48 individual orangutans involved in the study.

2. Why did the researchers put focus on the 'kiss squeaks' in particular?
The researchers put focus on the 'kiss squeaks' in particular because they're formed in a similar way to our consonants.

3. True or false? Kiss squeaks are made using the voice.
False. Just like our /t/ and /p/ sounds, kiss squeaks are made using the lips and tongue to control air flow rather than using the voice in calling out.

4. Which word in the text means 'the early forms of species from which others have evolved'?
Ancestors.