Abstract
Comparing the communicative abilities of humans and great apes is a commonly used research strategy to understand the evolutionary foundation of modern human language. The ability to combine signals from different communicative modes (vocal, gestural, facial, etc.) is a universal and important feature of human language that is shared with great apes, although rarely investigated. Research on apes’ signal combination has usually studied the frequency, distribution, effectiveness, and function of combinations in comparison with single signals, but only seldom have studies addressed their functional specificity, i.e., their ability to convey specific signallers’ goals within contexts. Here, I suggest a new methodological approach to the investigation of functional specificity of signals, which consists of focusing on one call type and exploring its various patterns of production when combined with gestures. I illustrate the different methodological steps with a case study on infant bonobos’ combinations of ‘Pout moan’ calls with gestures in the context of infant-to-mother requests. The descriptive results indicate that at least three combinations seem functionally specific, i.e., specific to the infants’ desired goals. It suggests that combinations can be functionally specific from a young age and that learning how to combine signals efficiently might occur early in ontogeny. This suggested approach might provide insight to the on-going debate regarding the mechanisms underpinning the learning process of successful signal production and potentially further our understanding of the evolution of the combinatorial characteristics of human communication.
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Notes
The Ontogenetic ritualization hypothesis predicts that any action can be ritualized into a communicative gesture. Ontogenetic ritualization is described as a process through which functional behaviours are progressively abbreviated and shaped into a communicative signal following unintentional reinforcement by a partner during repetitive interactions, with partner-specific’s outcomes in different dyads for the same purpose (Tomasello 1996).
The Genetic channelling (or Phylogenetic ritualization) hypothesis predicts that gestures derive from an ape’s biological inheritance, shaped by evolution and not by learning (Genty et al. 2009; Hobaiter and Byrne 2011a). It predicts that gestures forms, and repertoire sizes, are quite constant throughout development and across species, although their contextual use is very flexible (Byrne et al. 2017; Graham et al. 2018).
The Social negotiation hypothesis postulates that gesture acquisition is a dynamic process through which interacting partners mutually shape the communicative outcome of gestures in real time. This process results in a shared understanding of the contextual use and function of each gesture, that can be generalized across dyads (Pika and Fröhlich 2018).
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Klaus Zuberbühler for making this research possible and for his long-term collaboration and support. Thanks to Sarah McHugh for acting as a second rater and to Christof Neumann and Raphaela Heesen for their help in creating the figures. I am grateful to Claudine André and Brian Hare for permission to work at ‘Lola Ya Bonobo’, to Pierrot Mbonzo, Fanny Minesi and Raphaël Belais for their administrative support, and to the Ministry of Research and the Ministry of Environment in the Democratic Republic of Congo for giving me permission to carry out this research. I am grateful to all the Lola staff for their assistance. A very special thank you to E.A. Cartmill and Jacob G. Foster for fruitful discussions and invaluable comments and suggestions on this manuscript. Special thanks to E. A. Cartmill and C. Hobaiter for inviting me to contribute to this Special Issue.
Funding
Studies from the author reported in this manuscript have received funding from the European Commission Sixth Framework Programme ‘Origins of Referential Communication’, contract 12787, the Leverhulme Research Leadership Award No F00268AP, the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 283871, and the Swiss National Science Foundation ‘Coordinating joint action in apes: Testing the boundaries of the human interaction engine’ CR31I3_159655.
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Genty, E. Vocal–gestural combinations in infant bonobos: new insights into signal functional specificity. Anim Cogn 22, 505–518 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01267-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01267-0