Pragmatic Interpretation and Signaler-Receiver Asymmetries in Animal Communication
In Kristin Andrews Jacob Beck (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Animal Minds. Routledge. pp. 291-300 (2017)
Abstract
Researchers have converged on the idea that a pragmatic understanding of communication can shed important light on the evolution of language. Accordingly, animal communication scientists have been keen to adopt insights from pragmatics research. Some authors couple their appeal to pragmatic aspects of communication with the claim that there are fundamental asymmetries between signalers and receivers in non-human animals. For example, in the case of primate vocal calls, signalers are said to produce signals unintentionally and mindlessly, whereas receivers are thought to engage in contextual interpretation to derive the significance of signals. We argue that claims about signaler-receiver asymmetries are often confused. This is partly because their authors conflate two conceptions of pragmatics, which generate different accounts of the explanatory target for accounts of the evolution of language. Here we distinguish these conceptions, in order to help specify more precisely the proper explanatory target for language evolution research.Author Profiles
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Citations of this work
How to do things with nonwords: pragmatics, biosemantics, and origins of language in animal communication.Dorit Bar-On - 2021 - Biology and Philosophy 36 (6):1-25.
Gricean communication, language development, and animal minds.Richard Moore - 2018 - Philosophy Compass 13 (12):e12550.
Can Animals Refer? Meta-Positioning Studies of Animal Semantics.Sigmund Ongstad - forthcoming - Biosemiotics:1-25.
A Conceptual Framework for Studying Evolutionary Origins of Life-Genres.Sigmund Ongstad - 2019 - Biosemiotics 12 (2):245-266.
References found in this work
How Monkeys See the World: Inside the Mind of Another Species.Dorothy L. Cheney & Robert M. Seyfarth - 1990 - University of Chicago Press.
The Origins of Meaning: Language in the Light of Evolution.James R. Hurford - 2007 - Oxford University Press.