The origins of non-human primates' manual gestures

Katja Liebal*, Josep Call

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The increasing body of research into human and non-human primates' gestural communication reflects the interest in a comparative approach to human communication, particularly possible scenarios of language evolution. One of the central challenges of this field of research is to identify appropriate criteria to differentiate a gesture from other non-communicative actions. After an introduction to the criteria currently used to define non-human primates' gestures and an overview of ongoing research, we discuss different pathways of how manual actions are transformed into manual gestures in both phylogeny and ontogeny. Currently, the relationship between actions and gestures is not only investigated on a behavioural, but also on a neural level. Here, we focus on recent evidence concerning the differential laterality of manual actions and gestures in apes in the framework of a functional asymmetry of the brain for both hand use and language.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)118-128
Number of pages11
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B, Biological Sciences
Volume367
Issue number1585
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • gesture
  • manual
  • ontogenetic ritualization
  • phylogenetic ritualization
  • laterality
  • great apes
  • CHIMPANZEES PAN-TROGLODYTES
  • ORANGUTANS PONGO-PYGMAEUS
  • GORILLAS GORILLA-GORILLA
  • MONKEYS CEBUS-APELLA
  • HAND PREFERENCE
  • SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
  • INTENTIONAL COMMUNICATION
  • SYMPHALANGUS-SYNDACTYLUS
  • CAPTIVE CHIMPANZEES
  • ATTENTIONAL STATUS

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