What is a gesture? A lesson from comparative gesture research

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Liebal
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Gestural Communication ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Primate Communication ◽  
Language Research

AbstractResearch into nonhuman primates’ gestures is often limited by the lack of clear criteria to define a gesture and by studying gestures separately from other communicative means. Despite the fundamental differences between the gestural communication of humans and other primates, I argue that sign language research might benefit from the lessons learned from these drawbacks and the current developments in primate communication research.

Primate Vocal Communication and the Evolution of Speech

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
Julia Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Nonhuman Primate ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Primate Communication ◽  
Evolution Of Speech ◽  
Primate Vocal Communication ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Shed Light

Studies of nonhuman primate communication are often motivated by the desire to shed light on the evolution of speech. In contrast to human speech, the vocal repertoires of nonhuman primates are evolutionarily highly conserved. Within species-specific constraints, calls may vary in relation to the internal state of the caller or social experience. Receivers can use signalers’ calls to predict upcoming events or behavioral dispositions. Yet nonhuman primates do not appear to express or comprehend communicative or informative intent. Signalers are sensitive to the relation between their own actions and receivers’ responses, and thus, signaling behavior can be conceived as goal directed. Receivers’ ability to integrate information from multiple sources renders the system flexible and powerful. Researchers who take a linguistic or biological perspective on nonhuman primate communication should be aware of the strengths and limitations of their approaches. Both benefit from a focus on the mechanisms that underpin signaling and responses to signals.

scholarly journals Monkey Models of Tuberculosis: Lessons Learned

2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 852-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet C. Peña ◽  
Wen-Zhe Ho
Keyword(s):  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Preclinical Testing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cynomolgus Macaques ◽  
Drug Regimens

The use of animal models has been invaluable for studying the pathogenesis ofMycobacterium tuberculosisinfection, as well as for testing the efficacy of vaccines and drug regimens for tuberculosis. Among the applied animal models, nonhuman primates, particularly macaques, share the greatest anatomical and physiological similarities with humans. As such, macaque models have been used for investigating tuberculosis pathogenesis and preclinical testing of drugs and vaccines. This review focuses on published major studies which illustrate how the rhesus and cynomolgus macaques have enriched and may continue to advance the field of global tuberculosis research.

Coronary heart disease of females: lessons learned from nonhuman primates

2009 ◽  
Vol 71 (9) ◽  
pp. 785-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas B. Clarkson ◽  
Margaret H. Mehaffey
Keyword(s):  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Lessons Learned

“Civil in any Country, if They Are So in the Fashion of France”

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-158
Author(s):  
Céline Carayon
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
New World ◽  
Gestural Communication ◽  
State Control ◽  
Early Modern France ◽  
Universal Language ◽  
Nonverbal Expression ◽  
Modern France

As the 1550 Royal Entry in Rouen described in the opening of this chapter reveals, Renaissance and Early Modern France was home to a deeply ceremonial culture in which political and social rituals held complex meanings. This chapter reviews significant historical and cultural developments that transformed Europeans’ predominantly oral cultures after 1500. At the time of their explorations in the Americas, the French were familiar with a variety of sign traditions that informed their perception of Indigenous gestures and prepared them well to communicate with signs in the New World. In France, gestural communication was deeply connected to the realms of religious and secular oratory, drama (theatre), and court protocols. The seventeenth century saw a renewal of scientific and philosophical interest for manual eloquence with new universal language schemes being developed, including some of the first manuals of sign language. Increased state control over definitions of civility and ongoing distrust of theatrical gestures as unauthentic resulted in diverging types of nonverbal expression among the elite and the rest of the population. The chapter ends with an overview of early Atlantic repertoires of signs that evolved from the traditions of mariners and soldiers who participated in early voyages.

Pseudoreplication: a widespread problem in primate communication research

2013 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 483-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.M. Waller ◽  
L. Warmelink ◽  
K. Liebal ◽  
J. Micheletta ◽  
K.E. Slocombe
Keyword(s):  
Communication Research ◽  
Primate Communication

How long is the sign?

Linguistics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommi Jantunen
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Sign Recognition ◽  
Language Research

AbstractThis paper deals with the relative empirical length of signs in sign languages and provides evidence for the view that they are actually longer units than has hitherto been recognized. The evidence is presented from two perspectives: those of sign articulation and sign recognition. Concerning sign articulation, it is suggested that signs are longer units than is currently assumed because most of the structural features of signs are in fact already present before the currently accepted beginnings of signs and they continue after signs' generally accepted endings. Concerning sign recognition, the longer view of the sign is proposed on the grounds that the recognition point of signs is typically located before their alleged beginning, and because signs (as currently understood) can also be recognized on the basis of parts of their subsequent transitions only. The nature of the longer sign is discussed together with some more general consequences for sign language research of the revision of our view of what a sign might be.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document