Frontiers in Primatology: Primate Communication.

Science ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 222 (4619) ◽  
pp. 44-45
Author(s):  
P. MARLER
Keyword(s):  
Primate Communication

Primate Vocal Communication and the Evolution of Speech

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
Julia Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Nonhuman Primate ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Primate Communication ◽  
Evolution Of Speech ◽  
Primate Vocal Communication ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Shed Light

Studies of nonhuman primate communication are often motivated by the desire to shed light on the evolution of speech. In contrast to human speech, the vocal repertoires of nonhuman primates are evolutionarily highly conserved. Within species-specific constraints, calls may vary in relation to the internal state of the caller or social experience. Receivers can use signalers’ calls to predict upcoming events or behavioral dispositions. Yet nonhuman primates do not appear to express or comprehend communicative or informative intent. Signalers are sensitive to the relation between their own actions and receivers’ responses, and thus, signaling behavior can be conceived as goal directed. Receivers’ ability to integrate information from multiple sources renders the system flexible and powerful. Researchers who take a linguistic or biological perspective on nonhuman primate communication should be aware of the strengths and limitations of their approaches. Both benefit from a focus on the mechanisms that underpin signaling and responses to signals.

Pseudoreplication: a widespread problem in primate communication research

2013 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 483-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.M. Waller ◽  
L. Warmelink ◽  
K. Liebal ◽  
J. Micheletta ◽  
K.E. Slocombe
Keyword(s):  
Communication Research ◽  
Primate Communication

scholarly journals Suffixation influences receivers' behaviour in non-human primates

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1807) ◽  
pp. 20150265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Coye ◽  
Karim Ouattara ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler ◽  
Alban Lemasson
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Response ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Primate Communication ◽  
Mixed Species ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Vocal Responses ◽  
Cercopithecus Diana ◽  
Cercopithecus Campbelli ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Mixed Species Groups

Compared to humans, non-human primates have very little control over their vocal production. Nonetheless, some primates produce various call combinations, which may partially offset their lack of acoustic flexibility. A relevant example is male Campbell's monkeys ( Cercopithecus campbelli ), which give one call type (‘Krak’) to leopards, while the suffixed version of the same call stem (‘Krak-oo’) is given to unspecific danger. To test whether recipients attend to this suffixation pattern, we carried out a playback experiment in which we broadcast naturally and artificially modified suffixed and unsuffixed ‘Krak’ calls of male Campbell's monkeys to 42 wild groups of Diana monkeys ( Cercopithecus diana diana ). The two species form mixed-species groups and respond to each other's vocalizations. We analysed the vocal response of male and female Diana monkeys and overall found significantly stronger vocal responses to unsuffixed (leopard) than suffixed (unspecific danger) calls. Although the acoustic structure of the ‘Krak’ stem of the calls has some additional effects, subject responses were mainly determined by the presence or the absence of the suffix. This study indicates that suffixation is an evolved function in primate communication in contexts where adaptive responses are particularly important.

A Systemic Functional Approach to Language Evolution

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Rose
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Social Discourse ◽  
Primate Communication ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistic ◽  
Complex Patterns ◽  
Archaeological Models

An approach to interpreting possible steps in language evolution is offered here from systemic functional linguistic (SFL) theory. SFL models language at three levels from sounds to wordings to complex patterns of social discourse. Typological studies in this framework have shown striking commonalities at each level across languages, that are not yet adequately accounted for by existing models of language phylogenesis. Four conditions are suggested for developing explanatory models that may account for these linguistic phenomena. These include (a) a mechanism for reproducing complex cultural behaviours intergenerationally over extended time, (b) a sequence by which articulated wordings could evolve from non-linguistic primate communication, (c) extension of the functions of wording from enacting interpersonal interactions to representing speakers' experience, and (d) the emergence of complex patterns of discourse for delicately negotiating social relations, and for construing experience in genres such as narrative. These conditions are explored, and some possible steps in language evolution are suggested, that may be correlated with both linguistic research and archaeological models of cultural phases in human evolution. The aims of the article are to offer some useful tools to the field of language evolution, at the same time as indicating potential interpretations of existing work, using insights from SFL research.

Abstracts in Primate Communication

1969 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-262
Author(s):  
Chet Creider
Keyword(s):  
Primate Communication
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