Functionally referential communication in a chimpanzee
Functionally referential communication in a chimpanzee
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2005.08.068
复制
发表时间：
2005-10-11
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Zuberbühler, K
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Slocombe, KE;Zuberbühler, K
使用语音信号来指代世界上的事件或物体的进化起源仍然不清楚。虽然在一些猴子物种中已经描述了功能性的参照呼叫[1，2]，但对我们最近的近亲，类人猿的研究并没有产生可比的结果。这些负面的结果表明，猿类的发声不是他们复杂的心理的产物，猿类的手势交流对语言进化理论更有参考价值[3，4]。我们测试了黑猩猩在进食过程中产生的粗糙的呼噜声[5-8]是否起着参考信号的作用。当遇到不同的食物时，个体会产生不同类型的“粗糙的咕噜声”。在一个自然主义的回放实验中，一个焦点受试者能够利用几个同伴发出的这些叫声所传达的信息来指导他寻找食物，这表明不同的咕噜声类型对他来说是有意义的。这项研究提供了实验证据，证明我们最亲近的亲属可以产生和理解功能性参照呼叫，作为他们自然交流的一部分。我们认为，这些研究结果支持语音，而不是语言进化的手势理论。
The evolutionary origins of the use of speech signals to refer to events or objects in the world have remained obscure. Although functionally referential calls have been described in some monkey species [1, 2], studies with our closest living relatives, the great apes, have not generated comparable findings. These negative results have been taken to suggest that ape vocalizations are not the product of their otherwise sophisticated mentality and that ape gestural communication is more informative for theories of language evolution [3, 4]. We tested whether chimpanzee rough grunts, which are produced during feeding contexts [5-8], functioned as referential signals. Individuals produced acoustically distinct types of "rough grunts" when encountering different foods. In a naturalistic playback experiment, a focal subject was able to use the information conveyed by these calls produced by several group mates to guide his search for food, demonstrating that the different grunt types were meaningful to him. This study provides experimental evidence that our closest living relatives can produce and understand functionally referential calls as part of their natural communication. We suggest that these findings give support to the vocal rather than gestural theories of language evolution.