Meaning of monkey-speak | Babel Free

Definitions

Noun. [C1]

Examples

“About a dozen guys showed up for a performance by comedian Tim Allen at the Kentucky Center for the Arts last⟳ night wearing yellow hard hats, some proudly carrying tape measures and other tools. Their entrance sparked laughter, applause and lots of Allen’s trademark “ooo-ooo” monkey-speak from the sold-out crowd.”

“Monkey-speak may give⟳ scientists clues to early human language / ■ Scientists at the Yerkes Primate Institute are studying the dialects of monkey families to gain⟳ an understanding about the birth of human language”

“In the field, researchers play⟳ tape recordings of vervet monkey cries to see⟳ how these affect⟳ real monkeys. […] And when the scientists play⟳ a cry⟳ that is monkey-speak for “Look⟳ out! Eagle!”, the real-life monkeys hide⟳ in a bush where the eagle can’t reach⟳ them.”

“A band of pigtailed macaques, maybe 30, sat together on the shore, peering through wind-driven rain⟳, bopping one another on the back and head, pointing toward the Andaman Sea and cackling, in monkey-speak, “Do you believe⟳ those people?””

CEFR level