Ostensive communication in great apes: the evolution of Gricean intent

I discuss the evolution of ostensive behaviours (behaviours that display the communicative intent to influence others through the perception of signals and actions addressed to them). Ostensive communication evolved out of evolutionary adaptations to the challenges and opportunities created by the evolutionary scenario of the meeting of intentionalities (in Brentano's sense of “aboutness”) between two agents. Apes evolved specialised ostensive behaviours for managing “attention contact” situations with the structure of Gricean communicative intentions. Apes' ostensive communication consists of “behavioural utterances” combining both species-specific signals (with naturally selected meaning) and ordinary behaviours made to function communicatively to convey Gricean non-natural meaning.