scholarly journals Chimpanzee facial gestures and the implications for the evolution of language

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12237
Author(s):  
Brittany Florkiewicz ◽  
Matthew Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Facial Gestures

Great ape manual gestures are described as communicative, flexible, intentional, and goal-oriented. These gestures are thought to be an evolutionary pre-cursor to human language. Conversely, facial expressions are thought to be inflexible, automatic, and derived from emotion. However, great apes can make a wide range of movements with their faces, and they may possess the control needed to gesture with their faces as well as their hands. We examined whether chimpanzee facial expressions possess the four important gesture properties and how they compare to manual gestures. To do this, we quantified variables that have been previously described through largely qualitative means. Chimpanzee facial expressions met all four gesture criteria and performed remarkably similar to manual gestures. Facial gestures have implications for the evolution of language. If other mammals also show facial gestures, then the gestural origins of language may be much older than the human/great ape lineage.

Pantomime and imitation in great apes

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 200-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Russon
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Distinct Process ◽  
Action Imitation ◽  
Primitive Forms ◽  
Communicative Abilities

Abstract This paper assesses great apes’ abilities for pantomime and action imitation, two communicative abilities proposed as key contributors to language evolution. Modern great apes, the only surviving nonhuman hominids, are important living models of the communicative platform upon which language evolved. This assessment is based on 62 great ape pantomimes identified via data mining plus published reports of great ape action imitation. Most pantomimes were simple, imperative, and scaffolded by partners’ relationship and scripts; some resemble declaratives, some were sequences of several inter-related elements. Imitation research consistently shows great apes perform action imitation at low fidelity, but also that action imitation may not represent a distinct process or function. Discussion focuses on how findings may advance reconstruction of the evolution of language, including what great apes may contribute to understanding ‘primitive’ forms of pantomime and imitation and how to improve their study.

scholarly journals Subversion of Language Structure in Heterogeneous Speech Communities: the Work of Discourse and the Part of Contact

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Ploog
Keyword(s):  
Ivory Coast ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Phonological Form ◽  
Bilingual Speaker ◽  
Actual Speech

AbstractChange is an ongoing process constitutive of human language to which will be refered by the term of dynamics. It will be worked out how mere interaction conditions the language dynamics and how the disposable structural resources will be coordinated in microsystems. Since from this point of view grammar exists as a process, it will be of interest to work out by what type of mechanisms a bilingual speaker elaborates his/her discourse. It will be discussed what can be called a (more) 'useful' construction and through what type of mechanisms the constructions get coordinated. We will argue that all discursive mechanisms are bound to satisfy the pragmatic demands of an actual speech production and that the most useful items are those which best satisfy these pragmatic demands.One of the most characteristic phenomena of the linguistic dynamics in Ivory Coast is the microsystem of LA: In a highly heterogeneous context of social interaction, LA is used in (the locally dominant) discursive traditions of French and Mande languages, undergoing a grammaticalization process separately in each of them and used - consequently - in various constructions. The wide range of its referential values, the very importance of the negotiation of discourse referents between speaker and hearer and its simple phonological form seem to predestine LA to get reappropriated and to become a 'favorite' form in the emergent speech community.

scholarly journals Referential alarm calling behaviour in New World primates

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 680-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiane Cäsar ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
New World Monkeys ◽  
Human Language ◽  
New World Primates ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Old World ◽  
Call Type ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract There is relatively good evidence that non-human primates can communicate about objects and events in their environment in ways that allow recipients to draw inferences about the nature of the event experienced by the signaller. In some species, there is also evidence that the basic semantic units are not individual calls, but call sequences and the combinations generated by them. These two findings are relevant to theories pertaining to the origins of human language because of the resemblances of these phenomena with linguistic reference and syntactic organisation. Until recently, however, most research efforts on the primate origins of human language have involved Old World species with comparatively few systematic studies on New World monkeys, which has prevented insights into the deeper phylogenetic roots and evolutionary origins of language-relevant capacities. To address this, we review the older primate literature and very recent evidence for functionally referential communication and call combinations in New World primates. Within the existing literature there is ample evidence in both Callitrichids and Ce-bids for acoustically distinct call variants given to external disturbances that are accompanied by distinct behavioural responses. A general pattern is that one call type is typically produced in response to a wide range of general disturbances, often on the ground but also including inter-group encounters, while another call type is produced in response to a much narrower range of aerial threats. This pattern is already described for Old World monkeys and Prosimians, suggesting an early evolutionary origin. Second, recent work with black-fronted titi monkeys has produced evidence for different alarm call sequences consisting of acoustically distinct call types. These sequences appear to encode several aspects of the predation event simultaneously, notably predator type and location. Since meaningful call sequences have already been described in Old World primates, we suggest that basic combinatorial vocal communication has evolved in the primate lineage long before the advent of language. Moreover, it is possible that some of these communicative abilities have evolved even earlier, or independently, as there is comparable evidence in other taxonomic groups. We discuss these findings in an attempt to shed further light on the primate stock from which human language has arisen.

scholarly journals A Cognitive Linguistic Study of Silence/Pause-Based Incongruities in Selected Instances from Mind Your Language's Sitcom Series

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (30) ◽  
pp. 795-829
Author(s):  
Rana H. Al-Bahrani
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Linguistic Study ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Facial Gestures

The present research aims at: First, to examine the reasons behind using silence/pause-based unintentional incongruities in selected instances from the British Sitcom Mind Your Language; second, to explore specifically the types of silence/pause-based unintentional incongruities and the different facial gestures that accompany each of these types. To meet these two objectives, the analysis will be theoretically and conceptually-based, respectively. Conclusions, as far as the first objective is concerned, have shown that silence can be used to reflect: the sense of being inattentive; lack of understanding; being unfamiliar with what one hears; the time needed for thinking and associating, and the act of hiding one's nervousness, etc. As for pause, it is used for reflecting the sense of being confused; indicating that there is an interrupting event; and giving time to oneself to comprehend, re-consider, and correct what one has said, etc. As for the second objective, it has been concluded that silence appears to have the four categories cited by Kostiuk (2012); these included the structural, reflexive, tactical, and ignorant types of silence. Pauses, on the other hand, have only three categories: tactical, structural, and reflexive. Speaking of the reactions and facial expressions that accompany silence when encountering unintentionally incongruous events, they include the following: closing one's eyes, and feeling amazed, proud, shocked, and speechless, etc. whereas those that accompany pause are: feeling confused, asking a question for clarification, and opening one's mouth, etc.  

scholarly journals The Fully Conscious Ape

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh ◽  
Itai Roffman ◽  
Sabatien Lingomo ◽  
Elizabeth Pugh
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Transfer Index ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Current Experience

Duane Rumbaugh was one of the first primatologists of the modern era (which began after WWII), to engage in comparative studies of the cognitive capacities of nonhuman primates. In fact, it was Rumbaugh who drew the world's attention to the Order Primates and who helped initiate the International Primatological Society, IPS, the first academic society to be organized around an Order rather than a discipline. His work eventually led in two directions, first the development of the Transfer Index, a was completely new way of looking at learning. The TI seperated monkeys from apes as completely as did Gallup's mirror task. From this arose the Primate Test Battery, a video based system to test cognitive skills across a wide range of tasks from memory to numerical skils in primates. The other direction was to look at language and its effect on cognition. Only Apes succeeded in the laguage tasks. With Lana's success arose a raft of critiques that - in the light of more recent findings about the structure of human language, are now rendered invalid. Rumbaugh's initial findings in all domains has remained sound. This includes fundamental differences between monkeys and apes in their capacity to spontaneously begin control their attention, to consciously monitor their own behavior, and then to alter it deliberately, or by their own choice. It is the ape's conscious capacity to control its attention and to conciously monitor outcomes in a cause/effect manner, that allows for the acquisition of langauge. This also allows for the creation of "personal self", as a being that exists apart from the current experience of the self. Language greatly assists the emergence of this ability in apes, as does early rearing in which the ape is carried but not seperated from its mother. This allows pointing and joint reference to appear far ahead of schedule and for the spontaneouls development of human language in cross-species co-reared apes. The presence of a wild-reared mother (not present in other captive environments)also allows for the emergence of a nonhuman form of vocal language. The implications of this work for future investigations of apes are discussed.

scholarly journals Wild African great apes as natural hosts of malaria parasites: current knowledge and research perspectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Marie De Nys ◽  
Therese Löhrich ◽  
Doris Wu ◽  
Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer ◽  
Fabian Hubertus Leendertz
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Malaria Parasites ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Parasite Ecology ◽  
Natural Hosts ◽  
African Great Apes

Abstract. Humans and African great apes (AGAs) are naturally infected with several species of closely related malaria parasites. The need to understand the origins of human malaria as well as the risk of zoonotic transmissions and emergence of new malaria strains in human populations has markedly encouraged research on great ape Plasmodium parasites. Progress in the use of non-invasive methods has rendered investigations into wild ape populations possible. Present knowledge is mainly focused on parasite diversity and phylogeny, with still large gaps to fill on malaria parasite ecology. Understanding what malaria infection means in terms of great ape health is also an important, but challenging avenue of research and has been subject to relatively few research efforts so far. This paper reviews current knowledge on African great ape malaria and identifies gaps and future research perspectives.

Cradle Under the Canopy The Forest Origins of our Ape and Hominin Ancestors and the Tropical Forest Forays of the Genus Homo

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
Pan Paniscus ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Tropical Environments ◽  
Genus Homo ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Game Hunting ◽  
The Tropics

The evolutionary proximity of the non-human great apes to us is often stressed in studies of animals, such as Kanzi, a bonobo (Pan paniscus) bred in captivity, that demonstrate their capacity to undertake tool-use and even utilize and comprehend language (Toth et al., 1993; Savage-Rumbaugh and Lewin, 1996; Schick et al., 1999). Likewise, studies of chimpanzees (Pan spp.) have highlighted the similarity of their emotional and empathetic capacities to those of humans (Parr et al., 2005; Campbell and de Waal, 2014). However, as noted by Savage- Rumbaugh and Lewin (1996), in palaeoanthropology and archaeology more broadly, the emergence of the hominin clade and, later, our species, is referenced in terms of the ‘chasm’ between ourselves and other extant great apes. Indeed, despite our genetic and behavioural proximity, extant non-human great ape taxa are often popularly characterized as living fossils of how we used to be. They are used as analogues for the subsistence and behaviour of the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and non-human great apes (Clutton-Brock and Harvey, 1977; Goodall, 1986; Foley and Lewin, 2004) and it is almost as if the fact that they still occupy the tropical environments in which these hominoids likely evolved (though see Elton, 2008) allows them to be treated as static comparisons (Figure 3.1). Since Darwin wrote the Descent of Man in 1871, the forests of the tropics, and their modern non-human great ape inhabitants, have tended to be perceived as being left behind as the hominin clade gained increasingly ‘human’ traits of tool-use, medium to large game hunting, and upright locomotion on open ‘savanna’ landscapes (Dart, 1925; Potts, 1998; Klein, 1999). From this perspective it is perhaps unsurprising that tropical forests are seen as alien to the genus Homo and its closest hominin ancestors.

Somatic Semiotics: Emotion and the Human Face in the Sagas andÞættirof Icelanders

Traditio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 125-145
Author(s):  
Kirsten Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Mixed Emotions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Human Facial Expression

The human face has the capacity to generate expressions associated with a wide range of affective states. Despite the fact that there are few words to describe human facial behaviors, the facial muscles allow for more than a thousand different facial appearances. Some examples of feelings that can be expressed are anger, concentration, contempt, excitement, nervousness, and surprise. Regardless of culture or language, the same expressions are associated with the same emotions and vary only in intensity. Using modern psychological analyses as a point of departure, this essay examines descriptions of human facial expressions as well as such bodily “symptoms” as flushing, turning pale, and weeping in Old Norse-Icelandic literature. The aim is to analyze the manner in which facial signs are used as a means of non-verbal communication to convey the impression of an individual's internal state to observers. More specifically, this essay seeks to determine when and why characters in these works are described as expressing particular facial emotions and, especially, the range of emotions expressed. The Sagas andþættirof Icelanders are in the forefront of the analysis and yield well over one hundred references to human facial expression and color. The examples show that through gaze, smiling, weeping, brows that are raised or knitted, and coloration, the Sagas andþættirof Icelanders tell of happiness or amusement, pleasant and unpleasant surprise, fear, anger, rage, sadness, interest, concern, and even mixed emotions for which language has no words. The Sagas andþættirof Icelanders may be reticent in talking about emotions and poor in emotional vocabulary, but this poverty is compensated for by making facial expressions signifiers of emotion. This essay makes clear that the works are less emotionally barren than often supposed. It also shows that our understanding of Old Norse-Icelandic “somatic semiotics” may well depend on the universality of facial expressions and that culture-specific “display rules” or “elicitors” are virtually nonexistent.

scholarly journals Enteroviruses from Humans and Great Apes in the Republic of Congo: Recombination within Enterovirus C Serotypes

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inestin Amona ◽  
Hacène Medkour ◽  
Jean Akiana ◽  
Bernard Davoust ◽  
Mamadou Lamine Tall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Species ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Human Feces ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
The Family ◽  
Severe Infections ◽  
The Republic

Enteroviruses (EVs) are viruses of the family Picornaviridae that cause mild to severe infections in humans and in several animal species, including non-human primates (NHPs). We conducted a survey and characterization of enteroviruses circulating between humans and great apes in the Congo. Fecal samples (N = 24) of gorillas and chimpanzees living close to or distant from humans in three Congolese parks were collected, as well as from healthy humans (N = 38) living around and within these parks. Enteroviruses were detected in 29.4% of gorilla and 13.15% of human feces, including wild and human-habituated gorillas, local humans and eco-guards. Two identical strains were isolated from two humans coming from two remote regions. Their genomes were similar and all genes showed their close similarity to coxsackieviruses, except for the 3C, 3D and 5′-UTR regions, where they were most similar to poliovirus 1 and 2, suggesting recombination. Recombination events were found between these strains, poliovirus 1 and 2 and EV-C99. It is possible that the same EV-C species circulated in both humans and apes in different regions in the Congo, which must be confirmed in other investigations. In addition, other studies are needed to further investigate the circulation and genetic diversity of enteroviruses in the great ape population, to draw a definitive conclusion on the different species and types of enteroviruses circulating in the Republic of Congo.

scholarly journals Visually attending to a video together facilitates great ape social closeness

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1907) ◽  
pp. 20190488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Wolf ◽  
Michael Tomasello
Keyword(s):  
Human Study ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
External Stimulus ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Board Games ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Social Closeness ◽  
Psychological Mechanism

Humans create social closeness with one another through a variety of shared social activities in which they align their emotions or mental states towards an external stimulus such as dancing to music together, playing board games together or even engaging in minimal shared experiences such as watching a movie together. Although these specific behaviours would seem to be uniquely human, it is unclear whether the underlying psychology is unique to the species, or if other species might possess some form of this psychological mechanism as well. Here we show that great apes who have visually attended to a video together with a human (study 1) and a conspecific (study 2) subsequently approach that individual faster (study 1) or spend more time in their proximity (study 2) than when they had attended to something different. Our results suggest that one of the most basic mechanisms of human social bonding—feeling closer to those with whom we act or attend together—is present in both humans and great apes, and thus has deeper evolutionary roots than previously suspected.

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