(Salle F05)
Liebal, Katja
(Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig)
Pika, Simone
(University of St. Andrews, St Andrews)
Gestural communication in great apes
Studies of animal communication systems are essential to understand
the evolution of human language. The majority of research focused
on vocal communication (e.g., Seyfarth 1987), which is mainly due
to the analogy to human language. Recent studies however, provide
evidence that gestural signaling plays an important role in the communication
of nonhuman primates (Goodall, 1986 ; Maestripieri 1996,
1999 ; Tomasello, Call et al. 1994, 1997) and emphasize that gestures
may be the thread of evolutionary continuity between animal communication
and human language. Our presentation summarizes and
compares recent experimental and behavioral studies on the gestural
communication of great apes (bonobos / Pan paniscus, chimpanzees
/ Pan troglodytes, gorillas / Gorilla gorilla, as well as orangutans /
Pongo pygmaeus). The aim was to investigate systematically the gestural
repertoire of the different species based on a similar design of
data collection and analysis. We focused especially on intentionally
produced gestures. This means only those signals were included in
the analysis, which appeared to transfer a communicative message,
e.g. a request and/or a desired action/event (e.g., play, nurse or
ride) and were accompanied by the following criteria : gazing at the
recipient with or without waiting after the signal had been produced
and persisting in the communicative interaction. Our goal was to (1)
compile the general gestural repertoire of each species including different
signal categories (auditory, tactile and visual gestures), (2) to
investigate the individual variability of this repertoire to determine
the main learning process involved, and (3) to investigate the use
of gestures in terms of fl exibility and audience effects (Tomasello,
1994, 1997). The results are used to draw within and between species
comparison and to discuss the results within the framework of
the evolution of gestural communication along with the social structure,
ecology, and social-cognitive abilities of the different species
