Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Primate Roots of Human Language

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Primate Hearing and Communication

Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 63))

Abstract

Human language is largely a vocal behavior, but its evolutionary origins remain elusive. Although vocalizations are also the main way by which nonhuman primates communicate and interact socially, it has been difficult to demonstrate direct transitions from nonlinguistic primate vocal communication to human language. Nonhuman primates produce and perceive sounds by specialized anatomical and neural structures also present in humans. Compared to humans, however, nonhuman primates are severely limited in the control they have over vocal production, which restricts their ability to produce rapid sound combinations and limits vocal learning. But language is also a cognitive capacity, and there is good evidence that nonhuman primates understand others’ calls as given by specific individuals to specific events or as part of specific social interactions. In great apes, callers can take the past history with their audience into account by suppressing, exaggerating, and socially directing their calls in seemingly strategic ways. But there is no clear evidence that primates, apart from humans, perceive others as governed by complex mental states, especially knowledge, during acts of communication, nor is there evidence that they are motivated to seek common ground and actively inform their audience accordingly. There is also no clear indication that nonhuman primates use vocalizations for the sole purpose of social bonding. One hypothesis is that these differences in cognitive ability and social motivation may have prevented the evolution of flexible and combinatorial vocal communication in nonhuman primates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ackermann, H., Hage, S. R., & Ziegler, W. (2014). Brain mechanisms of acoustic communication in humans and nonhuman primates: An evolutionary perspective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(6), 529–546.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, K., & Zuberbühler, K. (2006). Semantic combinations in primate calls. Nature, 441(7091), 303.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, K., & Zuberbühler, K. (2008). Meaningful call combinations in a non-human primate. Current Biology, 18(5), R202–R203.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, K., & Zuberbühler, K. (2013). Female putty-nosed monkeys use experimentally altered contextual information to disambiguate the cause of male alarm calls. PLoS One, 8(6), e65660.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bergman, T. J. (2010). Experimental evidence for limited vocal recognition in a wild primate: Implications for the social complexity hypothesis. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 277(1696), 3045–3053.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burkart, J. M., Hrdy, S. B., & Van Schaik, C. P. (2009). Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology, 18(5), 175–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2008). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? 30 years later. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(5), 187–192.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Call, J., Hare, B., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2004). ‘Unwilling’ versus ‘unable’: Chimpanzees’ understanding of human intentional action. Developmental Science, 7(4), 488–498.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Candiotti, A., Zuberbühler, K., & Lemasson, A. (2012). Context-related call combinations in female Diana monkeys. Animal Cognition, 15(3), 327–339.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cartmill, E. A., & Byrne, R. W. (2007). Orangutans modify their gestural signaling according to their audience’s comprehension. Current Biology, 17(15), 1345–1348.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cäsar, C., Zuberbühler, K., Young, R. J., & Byrne, R. W. (2013). Titi monkey call sequences vary with predator location and type. Biology Letters, 9(5), 20130535. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0535.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, N. (1995). The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, E., Reichard, U. H., & Zuberbühler, K. (2006). The syntax and meaning of wild gibbon songs. PLoS One, 1(1), e73.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Clay, Z., & Zuberbühler, K. (2011). Bonobos extract meaning from call sequences. PLoS One, 6(4), e18786.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Clay, Z., & Zuberbühler, K. (2012). Communication during sex among female bonobos: Effects of dominance, solicitation and audience. Scientific Reports, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clay, Z., Pika, S., Gruber, T., & Zuberbühler, K. (2011). Female bonobos use copulation calls as social signals. Biology Letters, 7(4), 513–516.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Clay, Z., Archbold, J., & Zuberbühler, K. (2015). Functional flexibility in wild bonobo vocal behaviour. PeerJ, 3, e1124.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Collier, K., Bickel, B., van Schaik, C. P., Manser, M. B., & Townsend, S. W. (2014). Language evolution: Syntax before phonology? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 281(1788), DOI:10.1098/rspb.2014.0263.

  • Coye, C., Ouattara, K., Zuberbühler, K., & Lemasson, A. (2015). Suffixation influences receivers’ behaviour in non-human primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 282(1807), DOI:10.1098/rspb.2015.0265.

  • Coye, C., Zuberbühler, K., & Lemasson, A. (2016). Morphologically structured vocalizations in female Diana monkeys. Animal Behaviour, 115, 97–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cramer, I. (2005). The parameters of the Altmann-Menzerath Law. Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, 12(1), 41–52. doi:10.1080/09296170500055301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crockford, C., Herbinger, I., Vigilant, L., & Boesch, C. (2004). Wild chimpanzees produce group-specific calls: A case for vocal learning? Ethology, 110(3), 221–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crockford, C., Wittig, R. M., Mundry, R., & Zuberbühler, K. (2012). Wild chimpanzees inform ignorant group members of danger. Current Biology, 22(2), 142–146.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crockford, C., Wittig, R. M., & Zuberbühler, K. (2015). An intentional vocalization draws others’ attention: A playback experiment with wild chimpanzees. Animal Cognition, 18(3), 581–591.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, D. C. (1983). Intentional systems in cognitive ethology: The Panglossian Paradigm defended. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 6(3), 343–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar, R. I. M. (1996). Grooming, gossip and the evolution of language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enard, W., Przeworski, M., Fisher, S. E., Lai, C. S. L., et al. (2002). Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech and language. Nature, 418(6900), 869–872.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, N., & Levinson, S. C. (2009). The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(5), 429.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fant, G. (1960). Acoustic theory of speech production. The Hague: Mouton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedurek, P., & Slocombe, K. E. (2011). Primate vocal communication: A useful tool for understanding human speech and language evolution? Human Biology, 83(2), 153–173.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fedurek, P., & Slocombe, K. E. (2013). The social function of food-associated calls in male chimpanzees. American Journal of Primatology, 75(7), 726–739.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fedurek, P., Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2015). Chimpanzees communicate to two different audiences during aggressive interactions. Animal Behaviour, 110, 21–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fedurek, P., Zuberbühler, K., & Dahl, C. D. (2016). Sequential information in a great ape utterance. Scientific Reports, 6, 38226.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fichtel, C., & Kappeler, P. M. (2002). Anti-predator behavior of group-living Malagasy primates: Mixed evidence for a referential alarm call system. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 51(3), 262–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, S. E., & Scharff, C. (2009). FOXP2 as a molecular window into speech and language. Trends in Genetics, 25(4), 166–177.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fitch, W. T., & Hauser, M. D. (1995). Vocal production in nonhuman primates: Acoustics, physiology, and functional constraints on “honest” advertisement. American Journal of Primatology, 37, 191–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitch, W. T., & Reby, D. (2001). The descended larynx is not uniquely human. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 268(1477), 1669–1675.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fitch, W. T., & Zuberbühler, K. (2013). Primate precursors to human language: Beyond discontinuity. In E. Altenmuller, S. Schmidt, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), Evolution of emotional communication: From sounds in nonhuman mammals to speech and music in man. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitch, W. T., de Boer, B., Mathur, N., & Ghazanfar, A. A. (2016). Monkey vocal tracts are speech-ready. Science Advances, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford, S. M. (2009). Dialects. In W. Perrin, B. Würsig, & J. G. M. Thewissen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of marine mammals (2nd ed., pp. 310–311). New York: Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gautier, J.-P., & Gautier, A. (1977). Communication in old world monkeys. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), How animals communicate (pp. 890–964). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geissmann, T. (2002). Duet-splitting and the evolution of gibbon songs. Biological Reviews, 77(1), 57–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geissmann, T., & Orgeldinger, M. (2000). The relationship between duet songs and pair bonds in siamangs, Hylobates syndactylus. Animal Behaviour, 60(6), 805–809.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Genty, E., Clay, Z., Hobaiter, C., & Zuberbühler, K. (2014). Multi-modal use of a socially directed call in bonobos. PLoS One, 9(1), e84738.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goodall, J. (1986). The chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gouzoules, S., Gouzoules, H., & Marler, P. (1984). Rhesus monkey ( Macaca mulatta) screams: Representational signalling in the recruitment of agonistic aid. Animal Behaviour, 32(1), 182–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grice, H. P. (1969). Utterers’ meaning and intentions. Philosophical Review, 78, 147–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gustison, M. L., Semple, S., Ferrer-I-Cancho, R., & Bergman, T. J. (2016). Gelada vocal sequences follow Menzerath’s linguistic law. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113, E2750–E2758.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser, M. D., Yang, C., Berwick, R. C., Tattersall, I., et al. (2014). The mystery of language evolution. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 401.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, K. J., & Hayes, C. (1951). The intellectual development of a home-raised chimpanzee. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 95, 105–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbinger, I., Papworth, S., Boesch, C., & Zuberbühler, K. (2009). Vocal, gestural and locomotor responses of wild chimpanzees to familiar and unfamiliar intruders: A playback study. Animal Behaviour, 78(6), 1389–1396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hockett, C. F. (1960). The origin of speech. Scientific American, 203(3), 89–96.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hölldobler, B., & Wilson, E. O. (1990). The ants. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hostetter, A. B., Cantero, M., & Hopkins, W. D. (2001). Differential use of vocal and gestural communication by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in response to the attentional status of a human (Homo sapiens). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 115(4), 337–343.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janik, V. M. (2014). Cetacean vocal learning and communication. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 28, 60–65.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Janik, V. M., & Slater, P. J. B. (1997). Vocal learning in mammals. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 26, 59–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jürgens, U. (2002). Neural pathways underlying vocal control. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 26(2), 235–258.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, G. (2014). Animal communication. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 5(6), 661–677.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kershenbaum, A., Blumstein, D. T., Roch, M. A., Akcay, C., et al. (2016). Acoustic sequences in non-human animals: A tutorial review and prospectus. Biological Reviews, 91(1), 13–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krause, J., Lalueza-Fox, C., Orlando, L., Enard, W., et al. (2007). The derived FOXP2 variant of modern humans was shared with neandertals. Current Biology, 17(21), 1908–1912.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lameira, A. R., Hardus, M. E., Kowalsky, B., de Vries, H., et al. (2013). Orangutan (Pongo spp.) whistling and implications for the emergence of an open-ended call repertoire: A replication and extension. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 134(3), 2326–2335.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lameira, A. R., Maddieson, I., & Zuberbühler, K. (2014). Primate feedstock for the evolution of consonants. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(2), 60–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langergraber, K. E., Pruefer, K., Rowney, C., Boesch, C., et al. (2012). Generation times in wild chimpanzees and gorillas suggest earlier divergence times in great ape and human evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(39), 15716–15721.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Laporte, M. N. C., & Zuberbühler, K. (2010). Vocal greeting behaviour in wild chimpanzee females. Animal Behaviour, 80(3), 467–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laporte, M. N. C., & Zuberbühler, K. (2011). The development of a greeting signal in wild chimpanzees. Developmental Science, 14(5), 1220–1234.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lemasson, A., & Hausberger, M. (2004). Patterns of vocal sharing and social dynamics in a captive group of Campbell’s monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli campbelli). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 118(3), 347–359.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lemasson, A., Hausberger, M., & Zuberbühler, K. (2005). Socially meaningful vocal plasticity in adult Campbell’s monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 119, 220–229.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, S. C. (2006). On the human “interaction engine.” In N. J. Enfield & S. C. Levinson (Eds.), Roots of human sociality: Culture, cognition and interaction (pp. 39–69). Oxford: Berg Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, S. C. (2016). Turn-taking in human communication—Origins and implications for language processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(1), 6–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman, P. (2012). Vocal tract anatomy and the neural bases of talking. Journal of Phonetics, 40(4), 608–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marler, P. (1998). Animal communication and human language. In N. G. Jablonski & L. C. Aiello (Eds.), Origin and diversification of language (pp. 1–19). San Francisco, CA: California Academy of Sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, A. J., Wrangham, R. W., & Arcadi, A. C. (1999). Does learning affect the structure of vocalizations in chimpanzees? Animal Behaviour, 58, 825–830.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McComb, K., & Semple, S. (2005). Coevolution of vocal communication and sociality in primates. Biology Letters, 1(4), 381–385.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Nishimura, T. (2005). Developmental changes in the shape of the supralaryngeal vocal tract in chimpanzees. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 126(2), 193–204.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nishimura, T., Mikami, N., Suzuki, J., & Matsuzawa, T. (2003). Descent of the larynx in chimpanzee infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100, 6930–6933.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ouattara, K., Lemasson, A., & Zuberbühler, K. (2009a). Campbell’s monkeys use affixation to alter call meaning. PLoS One, 4(11), e7808.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ouattara, K., Lemasson, A., & Zuberbühler, K. (2009b). Campbell’s monkeys concatenate vocalizations into context-specific call sequences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(51), 22026–22031.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Owren, M. J., & Rendall, D. (2001). Sound on the rebound: Bringing form and function back to the forefront in understanding nonhuman primate vocal signaling. Evolutionary Anthropology, 10, 58–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papworth, S., Bose, A. S., Barker, J., Schel, A. M., & Zuberbühler, K. (2008). Male blue monkeys alarm call in response to danger experienced by others. Biology Letters, 4(5), 472–475.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pereira, M. E., & Macedonia, J. M. (1991). Ringtailed lemur anti-predator calls denote predator class, not response urgency. Animal Behaviour, 41, 543–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rainey, H. J., Zuberbuhler, K., & Slater, P. J. B. (2004). Hornbills can distinguish between primate alarm calls. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 271(1540), 755–759.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riede, T., Bronson, E., Hatzikirou, H., & Zuberbühler, K. (2005). Vocal production mechanisms in a non-human primate: Morphological data and a model. Journal of Human Evolution, 48(1), 85–96.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scarantino, A., & Clay, Z. (2015). Contextually variable signals can be functionally referential. Animal Behaviour, 100, E1–E8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schel, A. M., Tranquilli, S., & Zuberbühler, K. (2009). The alarm call system of two species of black-and-white colobus monkeys (Colobus polykomos and Colobus guereza). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 123(2), 136–150.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schel, A. M., Candiotti, A., & Zuberbühler, K. (2010). Predator-deterring alarm call sequences in Guereza colobus monkeys are meaningful to conspecifics. Animal Behaviour, 80(5), 799–808.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schel, A. M., Townsend, S. W., Machanda, Z., Zuberbühler, K., & Slocombe, K. E. (2013a). Chimpanzee alarm call production meets key criteria for intentionality. PLoS One, 8(10), e76674.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Schel, A. M., Machanda, Z., Townsend, S. W., Zuberbühler, K., & Slocombe, K. E. (2013b). Chimpanzee food calls are directed at specific individuals. Animal Behaviour, 86(5), 955–965.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlenker, P., Chemla, E., Arnold, K., Lemasson, A., et al. (2014). Monkey semantics: Two ‘dialects’ of Campbell’s monkey alarm calls. Linguistics and Philosophy, 37(6), 439–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlenker, P., Chemla, E., Schel, A. M., Fuller, J., et al. (2016). Formal monkey linguistics. Theoretical Linguistics, 42(1-2), 1–90. doi:10.1515/tl-2016-0001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sebeok, T. A. (1977). Zoosemiotic components of human communication. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), How animals communicate. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Semple, S., Gerald, M. S., & Suggs, D. N. (2009). Bystanders affect the outcome of mother-infant interactions in rhesus macaques. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 276(1665), 2257–2262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L. (1986). Vocal development in vervet monkeys. Animal Behaviour, 34, 1640–1658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth, R. M., Cheney, D. L., & Marler, P. (1980). Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: Evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science, 210, 801–803.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2005). Functionally referential communication in a chimpanzee. Current Biology, 15(19), 1779–1784.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2007). Chimpanzees modify recruitment screams as a function of audience composition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 17228–17233.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2010). Vocal communication in chimpanzees. In E. V. Lonsdorf, S. Ross, & T. Matsuzawa (Eds.), The mind of the chimpanzee: Ecological and empirical perspectives (pp. 192–207). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slocombe, K. E., Kaller, T., Call, J., & Zuberbühler, K. (2010a). Chimpanzees extract social information from agonistic screams. PLoS One, 5(7), e11473.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Slocombe, K. E., Kaller, T., Turman, L., Townsend, S., et al. (2010b). Production of food-associated calls in wild male chimpanzees is dependent on the composition of the audience. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 64(12), 1959–1966.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snowdon, C. T., Brown, C. H., & Petersen, M. R. (Eds.). (1982). Primate communication. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterelny, K. (2016). Cooperation, culture, and conflict. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 67(1), 31–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, A. M., & Reby, D. (2010). The contribution of source-filter theory to mammal vocal communication research. Journal of Zoology, 280(3), 221–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of human communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. (2014a). A natural history of human thinking. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. (2014b). The ultra-social animal. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(3), 187–194.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M., Call, J., & Hare, B. (2003). Chimpanzees understand psychological states—The question is which ones and to what extent. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(4), 153–156.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., & Moll, H. (2005). Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(5), 675–691.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M., Melis, A. P., Tennie, C., Wyman, E., & Herrmann, E. (2012). Two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation. The interdependence hypothesis. Current Anthropology, 53(6), 673–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Townsend, S. W., Deschner, T., & Zuberbühler, K. (2008). Female chimpanzees use copulation calls flexibly to prevent social competition. PLoS One, 3(6), e2431.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, S. K., Townsend, S. W., Schel, A. M., & Wilke, C. (2015). Vocal learning in the functionally referential food grunts of chimpanzees. Current Biology, 25(4), 495–499.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, B. C., & Fischer, J. (2012). Functionally referential signals: A promising paradigm whose time has passed. Evolutionary Anthropology, 21(5), 195–205.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten, A., Goodall, J., McGrew, W. C., Nishida, T., et al. (1999). Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature, 399(6737), 682–685.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wich, S. A., & de Vries, H. (2006). Male monkeys remember which group members have given alarm calls. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 273(1587), 735–740.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, M. L., Boesch, C., Fruth, B., Furuichi, T., et al. (2014). Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts. Nature, 513(7518), 414–417.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zuberbühler, K. (2000). Interspecific semantic communication in two forest monkeys. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 267(1444), 713–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuberbühler, K. (2001). Predator-specific alarm calls in Campbell’s monkeys, Cercopithecus campbelli. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 50(5), 414–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuberbühler, K. (2008). Audience effects. Current Biology, 18(5), R189–R190.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zuberbühler, K., Cheney, D. L., & Seyfarth, R. M. (1999). Conceptual semantics in a nonhuman primate. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 113(1), 33–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

 Much of the research reviewed here has been funded by the European Research Council (PRILANG 283871) and by the Swiss National Science Foundation. I thank the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland for providing core support for the Budongo Conservation Field Station and the editors for their valuable comments.

Compliance with Ethics Requirements

Klaus Zuberbühler declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Rue Emile Argand 11, Neuchatel, CH-2000, Switzerland

    Klaus Zuberbühler

  2. School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK

    Klaus Zuberbühler

Authors
  1. Klaus Zuberbühler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Klaus Zuberbühler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA

    Rolf M. Quam

  2. Department of Anthropology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, USA

    Marissa A. Ramsier

  3. Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Richard R. Fay

  4. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Zuberbühler, K. (2017). The Primate Roots of Human Language. In: Quam, R., Ramsier, M., Fay, R., Popper, A. (eds) Primate Hearing and Communication. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 63. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59478-1_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation