Referentiality and concepts in animal cognition

Research in animal communication is a particularly valuable tool to address questions about the origins of human language. To this end, the vocal behavior and mental concepts of nonhuman primates have attracted significant empirical attention, but studies on nonprimate species increasingly question a number of widespread assumptions about the evolution of cognitive capacities, including those underlying language. Significant progress has been made with various problems, particularly with regard to how animals conceptualize their social worlds, to what degree these conceptual structures are used in communication, and how meaning is encoded and communicated.