The Meanings of Chimpanzee Gestures

Abstract

Chimpanzees' use of gesture was described in the first detailed field study [1, 2], and natural use of specific gestures has been analyzed [3-5]. However, it was systematic work with captive groups that revealed compelling evidence that chimpanzees use gestures to communicate in a flexible, goal-oriented, and intentional fashion [6-8], replicated across all great ape species in captivity [9-17] and chimpanzees in the wild [18, 19]. All of these aspects overlap with human language but are apparently missing in most animal communication systems, including great ape vocalization, where extensive study has produced meager evidence for intentional use ([20], but see [21, 22]). Findings about great ape gestures spurred interest in a potential common ancestral origin with components of human language [23-25]. Of particular interest, given the relevance to language origins, is the question of what chimpanzees intend their gestures to mean; surprisingly, the matter of what the intentional signals are used to achieve has been largely neglected. Here we present the first systematic study of meaning in chimpanzee gestural communication. Individual gestures have specific meanings, independently of signaler identity, and we provide a partial "lexicon"; flexibility is predominantly in the use of multiple gestures for a specific meaning. We distinguish a range of meanings, from simple requests associated with just a few gestures to broader social negotiation associated with a wider range of gesture types. Access to a range of alternatives may increase communicative subtlety during important social negotiations.

Meaning and ostension in great ape gestural communication

“…Because meaning is first and foremost a property of Gricean acts, only where gestures are produced with Gricean intentions are they genuinely, and not just seemingly, meaningful. Since great ape gestures are not ostensive, Scott-Phillips argues that recent attributions of meaning to chimpanzee gestures (Hobaiter and Byrne 2014) are misguided.…”

Meaning in animal and human communication

“…For a signal to be meaningful in the Gricean sense, it must be overtly 229 intentional, and we do not have good evidence of overt intentionality in any non--human species. I 230 mentioned earlier one recent analysis, which claims to report the 'meanings' of chimpanzee 231 gestures based on documentation of intentionally produced gestures that consistently led to 232 apparently satisfactory outcomes (Hobaiter & Byrne, 2014). This is not enough to demonstrate 233 meaning in the sense relevant for comparisons with human language.…”

Insights into the Genetic Foundations of Human Communication

“…These primates are very limited in their range of vocalizations and ability to control and learn vocalizations, but chimpanzees in the wild use a basic repertoire of gestures for intentional communication in order to achieve goals (Hobaiter and Byrne 2014;Roberts et al 2014). Chimpanzees and bonobos in captivity are able to map meanings onto arbitrary symbols and use these for communication with humans and conspecifics, including communication about objects and events not in the here and now, pointing to a communicative capacity that is latent in the wild (Lyn et al 2014;Zuberbuhler 2014).…”