8. Evidence for intentional and referential communication in great apes?
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Simone Pika
Abstract
Human speech is frequently accompanied by movements of the arms and hands termed gestures. The majority of these gestures is invented spontaneously and is highly iconic but some gestures are used functionally in ways very similar to speech that is symbolically, referentially, based on intersubjectively learned and shared social conventions. Our closest living relatives, the great apes also use gestures in their natural communication in a variety of contexts such as play, grooming, sex and agonistic encounters. A deep understanding of apes’ gestural signalling might therefore be helpful to get insight into the evolutionary scenario of human communication and cognition. The present chapter investigates the nature of the gestural signalling of the four great apes, bonobos (Pan paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), with a special focus on the following three aspects: (1) the intentionality of gestures, (2) their referential use, and (3) similarities and differences to gestures in prelinguistic or just-linguistic human infants.
Abstract
Human speech is frequently accompanied by movements of the arms and hands termed gestures. The majority of these gestures is invented spontaneously and is highly iconic but some gestures are used functionally in ways very similar to speech that is symbolically, referentially, based on intersubjectively learned and shared social conventions. Our closest living relatives, the great apes also use gestures in their natural communication in a variety of contexts such as play, grooming, sex and agonistic encounters. A deep understanding of apes’ gestural signalling might therefore be helpful to get insight into the evolutionary scenario of human communication and cognition. The present chapter investigates the nature of the gestural signalling of the four great apes, bonobos (Pan paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), with a special focus on the following three aspects: (1) the intentionality of gestures, (2) their referential use, and (3) similarities and differences to gestures in prelinguistic or just-linguistic human infants.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword. Shared minds and the science of fiction: Why theories will differ vii
- 1. Intersubjectivity: What makes us human? 1
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Part I. Development
- 2. Understanding others through primary interaction and narrative practice 17
- 3. The neuroscience of social understanding 39
- 4. Engaging, sharing, knowing: Some lessons from research in autism 67
- 5. Coming to agreement: Object use by infants and adults 89
- 6. The role of intersubjectivity in the development of intentional communication 115
- 7. Sharing mental states: Causal and definitional issues in intersubjectivity 141
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Part II. Evolution
- 8. Evidence for intentional and referential communication in great apes? 165
- 9. The heterochronic origins of explicit reference 187
- 10. The co-evolution of intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 215
- 11. First communions: Mimetic sharing without theory of mind 245
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Part III. Language
- 12. The central role of normativity in language and linguistics 279
- 13. Intersubjectivity in the architecture of language system 307
- 14. Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions: The interpreter's role in co-constructing meaning 333
- 15. Language and the signifying object: From convention to imagination 357
- Author index 379
- Subject index 383
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword. Shared minds and the science of fiction: Why theories will differ vii
- 1. Intersubjectivity: What makes us human? 1
-
Part I. Development
- 2. Understanding others through primary interaction and narrative practice 17
- 3. The neuroscience of social understanding 39
- 4. Engaging, sharing, knowing: Some lessons from research in autism 67
- 5. Coming to agreement: Object use by infants and adults 89
- 6. The role of intersubjectivity in the development of intentional communication 115
- 7. Sharing mental states: Causal and definitional issues in intersubjectivity 141
-
Part II. Evolution
- 8. Evidence for intentional and referential communication in great apes? 165
- 9. The heterochronic origins of explicit reference 187
- 10. The co-evolution of intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 215
- 11. First communions: Mimetic sharing without theory of mind 245
-
Part III. Language
- 12. The central role of normativity in language and linguistics 279
- 13. Intersubjectivity in the architecture of language system 307
- 14. Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions: The interpreter's role in co-constructing meaning 333
- 15. Language and the signifying object: From convention to imagination 357
- Author index 379
- Subject index 383
