Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nothing to Talk About

On the Linguistic Abilities of Nonhuman Primates (And Some Other Animal Species)

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Homo Novus – A Human Without Illusions

Part of the book series: The Frontiers Collection ((FRONTCOLL))

Abstract

Is language a species-specific feature that distinguishes humans from other animals? While monkey and ape calls carry rich information that is potentially available to listeners, callers have little voluntary control over the structure of their calls and are hence unable to use these calls in a symbolic fashion. Likewise, combinations of calls do occur, but again, these do not appear to be driven by a set of rules applied by the sender. In contrast, listeners are able to attribute meaning to single calls as well as to specific call combinations. Although nonhuman primate communication may function very effectively with regard to social and ecological affordances, it is fundamentally distinct from human speech, where members of a linguistic community agree on the referential content of utterances by convention, and where syntactical rules provide a means to generate infinite meaning. Hence, the idea that speech and language are species-specific human traits is probably not an illusion. Future studies should address the selective pressures that shape communicative behavior, while genetic studies are needed to uncover the constraints that apparently play a role in animal communication.

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

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 69.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Arbib M (2005) From monkey-like action recognition to human language: an evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28:105–167

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold K, Pohlner Y, Zuberbühler K (2008) A forest monkey’s alarm call series to predator models. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 62:549–559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold K, Zuberbühler K (2006) The alarm-calling system of adult male putty-nosed monkeys, Cercopithecus nictitans martini. Animal Behaviour 72:643–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold K, Zuberbühler K (2008) Meaningful call combinations in a non-human primate. Current Biology 18:R202–203

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bahlmann J, Schubotz RI, Friederici AD (2008) Hierarchical artificial grammar processing engages Broca’s area. NeuroImage 42:525–534

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brumm H, Voss K, Koellmer I, Todt D (2004) Acoustic communication in noise: regulation of call characteristics in a New World monkey. Journal of Experimental Biology 207:443–448

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Call J, Tomasello M (2006) The Gestural Communication of Apes and Monkeys. Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey S, Bartlett E (1978) Acquiring a single new word. Child Language Development 15:29

    Google Scholar 

  • Corballis MC (2002) From Hand to Mouth. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Corballis MC (2007) Recursion, language, and starlings. Cognitive Science 31:697–704

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C (1872) The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Murray, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Deacon T (1997) The Symbolic Species. Penguin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Egnor SER, Hauser MD (2004) A paradox in the evolution of primate vocal learning. Trends in Neurosciences 27:649–654

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Egnor SER, Iguina CG, Hauser MD (2006) Perturbation of auditory feedback causes systematic perturbation in vocal structure in adult cotton-top tamarins. Journal of Experimental Biology 209:3652–3663

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Enard W, Gehre S, Hammerschmidt K, Holter SM, Blass T, Somel M, Bruckner MK, Schreiweis C, Winter C, Sohr R, Becker L, Wiebe V, Nickel B, Giger T, Muller U, Groszer M, Adler T, Aguilar A, Bolle I, Calzada-Wack J, Dalke C, Ehrhardt N, Favor J, Fuchs H, Gailus-Durner V, Hans W, Holzlwimmer G, Javaheri A, Kalaydjiev S, Kallnik M, Kling E, Kunder S, Mossbrugger I, Naton B, Racz I, Rathkolb B, Rozman J, Schrewe A, Busch DH, Graw J, Ivandic B, Klingenspor M, Klopstock T, Ollert M, Quintanilla-Martinez L, Schulz H, Wolf E, Wurst W, Zimmer A, Fisher SE, Morgenstern R, Arendt T, de Angelis MH, Fischer J, Schwarz J, Paabo S (2009) A humanized version of Foxp2 affects cortico-basal ganglia circuits in mice. Cell 137:961–971

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Enard W, Przeworski M, Fisher SE, Lai CSL, Wiebe V, Kitano T, Monaco AP, Paabo S (2002) Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech and language. Nature 418:869–872

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ey E, Hammerschmidt K, Seyfarth RM, Fischer J (2007a) Age- and sex-related variations in clear calls of Chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus). International Journal of Primatology 28:947–960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ey E, Pfefferle D, Fischer J (2007b) Do age- and sex-related variations reliably reflect body size in non-human primate vocalizations—a review. Primates 48:253–267

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ey E, Rahn C, Hammerschmidt K, Fischer J (2009) Wild female olive baboons adapt their grunt vocalisations to environmental conditions. Ethology 115:493–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fichtel C (2007) Ontogeny of conspecific and heterospecific alarm call recognition in wild Verreaux’s sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi). American Journal of Primatology 70:127–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fichtel C, Hammerschmidt K (2003) Responses of squirrel monkeys to their experimentally modified mobbing calls. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 113:2927–2932

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J (2003) Vokale Kommunikation bei nichtmenschlichen Primaten: Einsichten in die Ursprünge der menschlichen Sprache? Habilitationsschrift. Universität Leipzig, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J (2004) Emergence of individual recognition in young macaques. Animal Behaviour 67:655–661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J (2007) Categorical perception. In: Brown K (ed) Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, 2nd ed. Elsevier, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J (2008) Transmission of acquired information in nonhuman primates. In: Byrne JH (ed) Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 299–313

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J, Call J, Kaminski J (2004a) A pluralistic account of word learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8:481–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM (2000) Development of infant baboons’ responses to graded bark variants. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 267:2317–2321

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J, Hammerschmidt K (2001) Functional referents and acoustic similarity revisited: the case of Barbary macaque alarm calls. Animal Cognition 4:29–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J, Hammerschmidt K, Todt D (1995) Factors affecting acoustic variation in Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) disturbance calls. Ethology 101:51–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J, Hammerschmidt K, Todt D (1998) Local variation in Barbary macaque shrill barks. Animal Behaviour 56:623–629

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J, Kitchen DM, Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL (2004b) Baboon loud calls advertise male quality: acoustic features and their relation to rank, age, and exhaustion. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 56:140–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher SE, Marcus GF (2006) The eloquent ape: genes, brains and the evolution of language. Nature Reviews Genetics 7:9–20

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fitch WT, Hauser MD (2004) Computational constraints on syntactic processing in a nonhuman primate. Science 303:377–380

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Garner RL (1900) Apes and Monkeys. Their Life and Language. Ginn, Boston, MA

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner TQ, Fenn KM, Margoliash D, Nusbaum HC (2006) Recursive syntactic pattern learning by songbirds. Nature 440:1204–1207

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Green S (1975) Variation of vocal pattern with social situation in the Japanese monkey (Macaca fuscata): a field study. In: Rosenblum LA (ed) Primate Behavior, vol 4. Academic, New York, NY, pp 1–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammerschmidt K, Fischer J (2008) Constraints in primate vocal production. In: Griebel U, Oller K (eds) The Evolution of Communicative Creativity: From Fixed Signals to Contextual Flexibility. MIT Press, Cambridge. MA, pp 93–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammerschmidt K, Newman JD, Champoux M, Suomi SJ (2000) Changes in rhesus macaque ‘coo’ vocalizations during early development. Ethology 106:873–886

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD (1988) How infant vervet monkeys learn to recognize starling alarm calls: the role of experience. Behaviour 105:187–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD, Chomsky N, Fitch WT (2002) The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science 298:1569–1579

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herder JG (1772) Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache. Reclam, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Hockett CF (1960) The origin of speech. Scientific American 203:88–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jamain S, Radyushkin K, Hammerschmidt K, Granon S, Boretius S, Varoqueaux F, Ramanantsoa N, Gallego J, Ronnenberg A, Winter D, Frahm J, Fischer J, Bourgeron T, Ehrenreich H, Brose N (2008) Reduced social interaction and ultrasonic communication in a mouse model of monogenic heritable autism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 105:1710–1715

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Janik VM (2000) Whistle matching in wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates). Science 289:1355–1357

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaminski J, Call J, Fischer J (2004) Word learning in a domestic dog: evidence for ‘fast mapping’. Science 304:1682–1683

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaminski J, Fischer J, Call J (2008) Prospective object search in dogs: mixed evidence for knowledge of what and where. Animal Cognition 11:367–371

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kastak CR, Schusterman RJ (2006) Sea lions and equivalence: expanding classes by exclusion. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 78:449–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellogg WN (1968) Communication and language in the home-raised chimpanzee—gestures, words, and behavioral signals of home-raised apes are critically examined. Science 162:423–427

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Macedonia JM, Evans CS (1993) Variation among mammalian alarm call systems and the problem of meaning in animal signals. Ethology 93:177–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marler P (1955) Characteristics of some animal calls. Nature 176:6–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marler P (1957) Specific distinctiveness in the communication signals of birds. Behaviour 11:13–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marler P (1961) Logical analysis of animal communication. Journal of Theoretical Biology 1:295–317

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mitani JC, Hasegawa T, Gros-Louis J, Marler P, Byrne RW (1992) Dialects in wild chimpanzees? American Journal of Primatology 27:233–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pepperberg IM (2000) The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Perruchet P, Rey A (2005) Does the mastery of center-embedded linguistic structures distinguish humans from nonhuman primates? Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 12:307–313

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pfefferle D, Brauch K, Heistermann M, Hodges JK, Fischer J (2008) Female Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) copulation calls do not reveal the fertile phase but influence mating outcome. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 275:571–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfefferle D, Fischer J (2006) Sounds and size—identification of variables that reflect body size in Hamadryas baboons. Animal Behaviour 72:43–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinker S, Bloom P (1990) Natural-language and natural-selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13:707–726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radick G (2008) The Simian Tongue. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL (1980) The ontogeny of vervet monkey alarm calling behavior: a preliminary report. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 54:37–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL (1986) Vocal development in vervet monkeys. Animal Behaviour 34:1640–1658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL (1997) Some features of vocal development in nonhuman primates. In: Snowdon CT, Hausberger M (eds) Social Influences on Vocal Development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 249–273

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL (2003) Signalers and receivers in animal communication. Annual Review of Psychology 54:145–173

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Marler P (1980) Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science 210:801–803

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith WJ (1977) The Behavior of Communicating: An Ethological Approach. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Snowdon CT, Elowson AM (1999) Pygmy marmosets modify call structure when paired. Ethology 105:893–908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Struhsaker TT (1967) Auditory communication among vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). In: Altmann SA (ed) Social Communication Among Primates. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, pp 281–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugiura H (1998) Matching of acoustic features during the vocal exchange of coo calls by Japanese macaques. Animal Behaviour 55:673–687

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Számadó S, Bishop D, Deacon T, d’Errico F, Fischer J, Hurford JR, Okanaya K, Szathmáry E, White S, Bickerton D (2009) What Are the Possible Biological and Genetic Foundations for Syntactic Phenomena? Biological Foundations and Origin of Syntax. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 207–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuberbühler K (2002) A syntactic rule in forest monkey communication. Animal Behaviour 63:293–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I thank Eckart Voland for his willingness to consider views of the world that sometimes differ radically from his own, the organizers of this volume for insisting on my contribution, Tabitha Price for comments on the manuscript, and Kurt Hammerschmidt for the many discussions we shared.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, 37077, Goettingen, Germany

    Julia Fischer

Authors
  1. Julia Fischer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julia Fischer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zentrum für Philosophie und, Grundlagen der Wissenschaft, Universität Gießen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10, Gießen, 35394, Germany

    Ulrich J. Frey

  2. Zentrum für Philosophie und, Grundlagen der Wissenschaft, Universität Gießen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10, Gießen, 35394, Germany

    Charlotte Störmer

  3. Zentrum für Philosophie und, Grundlagen der Wissenschaft, Universität Gießen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10, Gießen, 35394, Germany

    Kai P. Willführ

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fischer, J. (2010). Nothing to Talk About. In: Frey, U., Störmer, C., Willführ, K. (eds) Homo Novus – A Human Without Illusions. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12142-5_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12142-5_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-12141-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-12142-5

  • eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation