International audienceWe develop a formal semantic analysis of the alarm calls used by Campbell’s monkeys in the Tai forest (Ivory Coast) and on Tiwai island (Sierra Leone)—two sites that differ in the main predators that the monkeys are exposed to (eagles on Tiwai vs. eagles and leopards in Tai). Building on data discussed in Ouattara et al. (PLoS ONE 4(11):e7808, 2009a; PNAS 106(51): 22026–22031, 2009b and Arnold et al. (Population differences in wild Campbell’s monkeys alarm call use, 2013), we argue that on both sites alarm calls include the roots krak and hok, which can optionally be affixed with -oo, a kind of attenuating suffix; in addition, sentences can start with boom boom, which indicates that the context is not one of predation. In line with Arnold et al., we show that the meaning of the roots is not quite the same in Tai and on Tiwai: krak often functions as a leopard alarm call in Tai, but as a general alarm call on Tiwai. We develop models based on a compositional semantics in which concatenation is interpreted as conjunction, roots have lexical meanings, -oo is an attenuating suffix, and an all-purpose alarm parameter is raised with each individual call. The first model accounts for the difference between Tai and Tiwai by way of different lexical entries for krak. The second model gives the same underspecified entry to krak in both locations (= general alarm call), but it makes use of a competition mechanism akin to scalar implicatures. In Tai, strengthening yields a meaning equivalent to non-aerial dangerous predator and turns out to single out leopards. On Tiwai, strengthening yields a nearly contradictory meaning due to the absence of ground predators, and only the unstrengthened meaning is used

We argue that rich data gathered in experimental primatology in the last 40 years can benefit from analytical methods used in contemporary linguistics. Focusing on the syntactic and especially semantic side, we suggest that these (iii) how are the meanings of individual calls combined? (iv) how do calls or call sequences compete with each other when several are appropriate in a given situation? (v) how did the form and meaning of calls evolve? We address these questions in five case studies pertaining to cercopithecines (Putty-nosed monkeys, Blue monkeys, and Campbell's monkeys), colobinae (Guereza monkeys and King Colobus monkeys), and New World monkeys (Titi monkeys). The morphology mostly involves simple calls, but in at least one case (Campbell's -oo) we find a root-suffix structure, possibly with a compositional semantics. The syntax is in all clear cases simple and finite-state. With respect to meaning, nearly all cases of call concatenation can be analyzed as conjunction. But a key question concerns the division of labor between semantics, pragmatics and the environmental context ('world' knowledge and context change). An apparent case of dialectal variation in the semantics (Campbell's krak) can arguably be analyzed away if one posits sufficiently powerful mechanisms of competition among calls, akin to scalar implicatures. An apparent case of non-compositionality (Putty-nosed pyow-hack sequences) can be analyzed away if one further posits a pragmatic principle of 'urgency', whereby threat-related calls must come early in sequences (another potential case of non-compositionality -Colobus snort-roar sequences -might justify assigning non-compositional meanings to complex calls, but results are tentative). Finally, rich Titi sequences in which two calls are re-arranged in complex ways so as to reflect information about both predator identity and location are argued not to involve a complex syntax/semantics interface, but rather a finegrained interaction between simple call meanings and the environmental context. With respect to call evolution, we suggest that the remarkable preservation of call form and function over millions of years should make it possible to lay the groundwork for an evolutionary monkey linguistics, which we illustrate with cercopithecine booms, and with a comparative analysis of Blue monkey and Putty-nosed monkey repertoires. Throughout, we aim to compare possible theories rather than to fully adjudicate between them, and our claims are correspondingly modest. But we hope that our methods could lay the groundwork for a formal monkey linguistics combining data from primatology with formal techniques from linguistics (from which it does not follow that the calls under study share non-trivial properties, let alone an evolutionary history, with human language).

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19Understanding the extent to which humans perceive the emotional state of animals has both 20 theoretical and practical implications. While recent studies indicate that natural selection has 21 led to some convergence of emotion coding among vertebrate species (including humans), 22highlighting the interspecific value of emotional signals, it has also been argued that 23 interspecific communication of emotions can fail due to species-specific signaling traits 24 impairing information decoding, and/or absence of familiarity with heterospecific 25 communication systems. Here we show that human listeners pay attention to the mean pitch 26 of vocalizations when asked to rate the distress level expressed by human baby cries, and that 27 they use a similar pitch scale to rate the emotional level of baby non-human ape (bonobo and 28 chimpanzee) distress calls. As a consequence the very high-pitched bonobo infant calls were 29 systematically rated as expressing overall high distress levels despite being recorded in 30 contexts eliciting various stress intensity. Conversely, chimpanzee infant calls -which are 31 characterized by a relatively lower-pitch-were systematically rated as expressing relatively 32 lower distress levels. These results indicate that, in the absence of exposure/familiarity, our 33 spontaneous ability to range the emotional content of vocalizations in closely related ape 34 species remains biased by basic frequency differences, suggesting that the absolute 35 interspecific value of emotional signals should not be over-estimated. 36 37 KEYWORDS: acoustic communication -evolutive convergence -ape -bonobo -38 chimpanzee -cry -distress call -emotion -human baby -signal. 39 3