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Speechless minds| old_uid | 9378 |
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| title | Speechless minds |
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| start_date | 2010/12/07 |
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| schedule | 12h-13h30 |
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| online | no |
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| summary | Non-human primates are unable to acquire speech, even with substantial training efforts. Nevertheless, speech is only one manifestation of human language, which is based on fundamental processes such as coding, inferences, and common ground. I will review recent progress in tracing the biological origins of these processes in our closest relatives, the non-human primates. Firstly, although primates have little control over their articulators, they are able to encode messages using discrete and graded signals, which can also be composed into sequences. Secondly, there is evidence that primates can extract meaning by inferring the social and environmental context associated with a signal. Finally, although there is not much evidence that primates base their communication on assumptions and knowledge shared with a receiver they show some awareness of their audience and
understanding of the impact of their signals. In conclusion, spoken
language must have evolved on a substrate of phylogenetically old
encoding and inferential abilities, more recently evolved social
awareness, and uniquely human cooperative motivation. |
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| responsibles | Spector, Tiziana + |
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