From Signal to Symbol: The Evolution of Language by Ronald Planer & Kim Sterelny

Author:Ronald Planer & Kim Sterelny [Planer, Ronald & Sterelny, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cognitive Science, Psychology, General, Linguistics, Language Arts & Disciplines, Evolution of language; language evolution; origins of language; origins of human communication; protolanguage; gesture; gestural-origins of language; evolution of syntax; recursion; evolution of grammar; human evolution; cognitive evolution; stone tools; technological evolution; evolution of hunting; big-game hunting; control of fire; discovery of fire; Homo Erectus; Homo Heidelbergensis Neanderthals; Homo sapiens; Kanzi; human cooperation; cultural evolution; cultural learning; gene-culture co-evolution; great-ape communication; primate communication; theory of mind; mindreading; homesign, science, Evolutionary Psychology
ISBN: 9780262045971
Google: ErVCEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 2021-10-12T00:25:55.540551+00:00

5.2    Baseline Capacities

In seeking to understand the evolution of humans’ syntactic capacities, the first step is to characterize the baseline. What capacities did the very earliest hominins possess in this area?

To answer this, we must consider the cognitive capacities of our relatives. We divide this question into two simpler ones, a production question and an interpretation question, and take the latter first.

5.2.1    Interpretation

In chapter 2 we discussed the work of Cheney and Seyfarth on baboon vocalization. While we are skeptical of some of their claims, we agree that their experiments reveal striking sophistication in the way baboons interpret calls. The experiments that are most relevant here concern sensitivity to the order in which calls are heard. The following is a representative example of this set of experiments. Cheney and Seyfarth played sequences of calls of baboons over a loudspeaker. These were recordings of vocalizations of baboons from the same troop as those baboons positioned to hear the loudspeaker. Subjects first heard a “grunt” from one baboon followed by a “fear bark” from another. In baboon society, higher-ranked individuals never fear-bark in response to grunts from lower-ranked individuals, and hence rank relations can be read off from such call sequences. Employing the logic behind the violation-of-expectations paradigm in psychology, Cheney and Seyfarth hypothesized that subjects would look longer at the loudspeaker when the sequence they heard violated rank relations. This is just what they found. Importantly, the effect could not be explained by the novelty of the call sequences in question. For subjects were also played other novel sequences that upheld rank relations, and those sequences did not elicit longer looking-time behavior. Cheney and Seyfarth have carried out a variety of similar experiments involving other call types (e.g., “threat grunts” and “screams”) and have found similar results.

Baboons’ performance in these cases exemplifies far more than the capacity to distinguish different call sequences; such an ability is doubtless widespread in the animal kingdom. In agreement with Cheney and Seyfarth, we think the best explanation is that hearers interpret what they hear. They have a map of their social world, and they use call sequences to update that map. They represent the identity of the callers and their current rank-order. This information is then available for use in a range of inferences and/or behavioral decisions. Moreover, because hearers react this way in response to completely novel call sequences, we cannot explain their interpretive abilities in terms of past association formation. Their interpretation must be based on piecing together the information carried by each call, together with the order of the calls. This explanation is further supported by the sheer number of call sequences baboons can correctly interpret. A typical baboon troop contains about 80 or so individuals. Thus, as Cheney and Seyfarth point out, the ability to correctly interpret an arbitrarily chosen call sequence implies impressive computational power. We must also add to this the other sequences they interpret, as well as the flexible use they make of all that information. It is very hard

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