The language void: the need for multimodality in primate communication research

Slocombe, Katie E.; Waller, Bridget M.; Liebal, Katja

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.02.002

Cited by 162 publications

(165 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

162

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Insight into language evolution can be gained from the communicative systems of nonhuman primates (Slocombe, Waller, & Liebal, 2011), especially those of chimpanzees, our closest living relative (McGrew, 2010). Although not a 'missing link,' chimpanzees display a number of features considered characteristic of early human populations, such as fission-fusion social organisation and life at the forestsavannah interface (van Lawick-Goodall, 1968).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Signal repertoires are species-specific collections of ritualised actions or cues, deployed to change the behaviour of recipients (Bradbury & Vehrencamp, 1998). More recently, attention has shifted to gestures as a potential evolutionary precursor to human language (Slocombe et al, 2011). Manual gestures, defined as movements of the hands without the use of objects or a substrate, have attracted considerable attention because of the possibility of being an ancestral trait that humans share with their primate relatives (de Waal, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A structure-based repertoire of manual gestures in wild chimpanzees: statistical analyses of a graded communication system

Roberts

Vick

Roberts

et al. 2012

Evolution and Human Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Great ape gestural communication is considered important in understanding the evolution of human language as these share important features, namely, flexible and intentional signal use. Although gestural repertoires have been compiled for captive and wild primates, reports are largely qualitative. We quantify the morphological structure and variation of gestural signals identified in the repertoire of a community of wild chimpanzees. Gestures were classified on the basis of 29 morphological features, such as trajectory and orientation during the preparatory and stroke phases of a gesture. Hierarchical cluster and discriminant function analyses identified 30 morphologically distinct manual gesture types; the majority was subsequently correctly classified using a cross-validation technique, with incorrect classifications for rare gesture types only. Comparisons of this statistically determined repertoire with previous repertoires did not identify systematic variation between captive and wild chimpanzees. Moreover, consensus was not greater within studies of the same populations, highlighting the importance of systematic and well-documented inventories. Our morphologically based analyses indicate that manual gestures are best considered as graded rather than discrete communication signals, similar to some vocalisation systems. We discuss these findings in light of current theories of human language evolution.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A structure-based repertoire of manual gestures in wild chimpanzees: statistical analyses of a graded communication system

Roberts

Vick

Roberts

et al. 2012

Evolution and Human Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Lately, there is an increase in more systematic, mostly observational studies investigating gesture use within social groups of great apes [37,38] and monkeys [22,24,39 -41]. This increasing body of research reflects the interest in the role gestures might have played for the evolution of human language [42][43][44][45], although studies addressing facial expressions or vocalizations still outnumber studies concerning gestures [46]. However, the reported gestural repertoires for the different species vary considerably between studies.…”

Section: Gesture Origins (Out Of Actions) (A) Defining a Gesturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…[43]). To our knowledge, there is no coherent theory currently available that has attempted to reconcile the two opposing sets of theories, which usually see themselves as mutually exclusive [46]. Gestural theories usually refer to the very flexible use of gestures across different contexts and the fact that new gestures can be learned and incorporated into a species repertoire [98].…”

Section: Language Origins (Out Of Actions) (A) Gestural Origin Of Hummentioning

confidence: 99%

The origins of non-human primates' manual gestures

Liebal

Call

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The increasing body of research into human and non-human primates' gestural communication reflects the interest in a comparative approach to human communication, particularly possible scenarios of language evolution. One of the central challenges of this field of research is to identify appropriate criteria to differentiate a gesture from other non-communicative actions. After an introduction to the criteria currently used to define non-human primates' gestures and an overview of ongoing research, we discuss different pathways of how manual actions are transformed into manual gestures in both phylogeny and ontogeny. Currently, the relationship between actions and gestures is not only investigated on a behavioural, but also on a neural level. Here, we focus on recent evidence concerning the differential laterality of manual actions and gestures in apes in the framework of a functional asymmetry of the brain for both hand use and language.

show abstract

“…Both may be important measures of welfare and facial expressions created in the production of sound should be differentiated rather than disregarded. In rhesus macaques, the mouth creates fixed movements when producing vocalizations, while non-vocal mouth expressions are more flexible in movement and shape (Partan, 2002), and again subtleties or multimodal information may assist in differentiating affect or motivation (e.g., Slocombe et al, 2011).…”

Section: Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%