Unpeeling the layers of language: Bonobos and chimpanzees engage in cooperative turn-taking sequences

Abstract

Human language is a fundamentally cooperative enterprise, embodying fast-paced and extended social interactions. It has been suggested that it evolved as part of a larger adaptation of humans’ species-unique forms of cooperation. Although our closest living relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, show general cooperative abilities, their communicative interactions seem to lack the cooperative nature of human conversation. Here, we revisited this claim by conducting the first systematic comparison of communicative interactions in mother-infant dyads living in two different communities of bonobos (LuiKotale, DRC; Wamba, DRC) and chimpanzees (Taï South, Côte d’Ivoire; Kanyawara, Uganda) in the wild. Focusing on the communicative function of joint-travel-initiation, we applied parameters of conversation analysis to gestural exchanges between mothers and infants. Results showed that communicative exchanges in both species resemble cooperative turn-taking sequences in human conversation. While bonobos consistently addressed the recipient via gaze before signal initiation and used so-called overlapping responses, chimpanzees engaged in more extended negotiations, involving frequent response waiting and gestural sequences. Our results thus strengthen the hypothesis that interactional intelligence paved the way to the cooperative endeavour of human language and suggest that social matrices highly impact upon communication styles.

Social play as joint action: A framework to study the evolution of shared intentionality as an interactional achievement

“…Indeed, apes seem to possess some abilities necessary for understanding shared intentionality, like reading others' attention (Tomasello, Call, & Hare, 1998) and intentions (Call, Hare, Carpenter, & Tomasello, 2004;Call & Tomasello, 1998). They are also capable of communicating multi-modally to convey meaning (Genty, Clay, Hobaiter, & Zuberbühler, 2014;Hobaiter, Byrne, & Zuberbühler, 2017) and engaging in gestural turn-taking (Fröhlich et al, 2016a;Rossano, 2013). But they have difficulties participating in activities involving shared attention (Melis & Tomasello, 2013;Tomasello & Carpenter, 2005;Tomasello et al, 2005a).…”

Interactive rhythms across species: the evolutionary biology of animal chorusing and turn‐taking

“…Many studies and reviews of human language conjecture its origin in cooperation . These conjectures may account for the current trend linking behavioral alternation across a wide range of nonhuman animals to cooperation and referring to such alternation as turn‐taking . While we are sympathetic toward interactive accounts of the evolution of language and speech, turn‐taking, cooperation, and language origins have not been shown to be so strongly connected as depicted in some turn‐taking work .…”

“…A potential risk in applying turn‐taking frameworks to animal communication may be to neglect these important, albeit “lower level,” issues to focus more on cognitive, mentalistic frameworks . Concepts like intentionality, cognitive flexibility, and cognitive complexity are sometimes used in animal turn‐taking research . Especially in apes, these concepts seem quite suitable .…”

“…Many studies and reviews of human language conjecture its origin in cooperation . These conjectures may account for the current trend linking behavioral alternation across a wide range of nonhuman animals to cooperation and referring to such alternation as turn‐taking .…”

“…In fact, noncooperative coordination and competition often drive animal interactive displays . We illustrate these points by discussing and building upon some recent experiments and reviews of turn‐taking in nonhuman animals . Our intention, we stress, is not to criticize a related field or a particular paper.…”