The result of a conference on language and related cognitive processes in animals, this book brings together scientists working on language and communication, reviews research done on language in apes and dolphins, and places this work in a larger perspective of animal communication and cognition. The conference convened an international group of distinguished scientists interested in exploring the neurological, cognitive, social, and behavioral aspects of communication in animals. A broad spectrum of perspectives was represented, including naturalistic investigations of animals in their natural habitat as well as strictly controlled laboratory investigations. Similarly, a broad range of species was described including rats, parrots, monkeys, apes, dolphins, and humans.
New methodologies and perspectives are continuously emerging that allow consideration of issues that previously could not be resolved. Emerging technology such as video equipment and advanced database systems allow one to exhaustively record in an accessible format the evidence on which scientific conclusions must be based. Investigation of animal language and communication is a small, but vigorously exciting area of scientific investigation as the chapters in this volume clearly attest.
"Contents: Preface. H.L. Roitblat, H.E. Harley, D.A. Helweg, Cognitive Processing in Artificial Language Research. G. Bradshaw, Beyond Animal Language. S.A. Kuczaj II, V.M. Kirkpatrick, Similarities and Differences in Human and Animal Language Research: Toward a Comparative Psychology of Language. W. Bechtel, Knowing How to Use Language: Developing a Rapprochement Between Two Theoretical Traditions. E. Hunt, A Proposal for Computer Modeling of Animal Linguistic Comprehension. L. Bloom, Language Acquisition and the Power of Expression. P.L. Tyack, Animal Language Research Needs a Broader Comparative and Evolutionary Framework. J. Sigurdson, Frequency-Modulated Whistles as a Medium for Communication with the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). C.T. Snowdon, Linguistic Phenomena in the Natural Communication of Animals. R.M. Seyfarth, D.L. Cheney, Meaning, Reference, and Intentionality in the Natural Vocalizations of Monkeys. I.M. Pepperberg, Cognition and Communication in an African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus): Studies on a Nonhuman, Nonprimate, Nonmammalian Subject. R.J. Schusterman, R. Gisiner, B.K. Grimm, E.B. Hanggi, Behavior Control by Exclusion and Attempts at Establishing Semanticity in Marine Mammals Using Match-to-Sample Paradigms. K.N. O'Conner, H.L. Roitblat, T.G. Bever, Auditory Sequence Complexity and Hemispheric Asymmetry of Function in Rats. W.D. Hopkins, R.D. Morris, Hemispheric Priming as a Technique in the Study of Lateralized Cognitive Processes in Chimpanzees: Some Recent Findings. P. Morrel-Samuels, L.M. Herman, Cognitive Factors Affecting Comprehension of Gesture Language Signs: A Brief Comparison of Dolphins and Humans. D.M. Rumbaugh, W. Hopkins, D.A. Washburn, E.S. Savage-Rumbaugh, Chimpanzee Competence for Comprehension in a Video-Formated Task Situation. S. Itakura, T. Matsuzawa, Acquisition of Personal Pronouns by a Chimpanzee. R.K.R. Thompson, D.L. Oden, ""Language Training"" and Its Role in the Expression of Tacit Propositional Knowledge by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). M.R. Shyan, A.A. Wright, The Effects of Language on Information Processing and Abstract Concept Learning in Dolphins, Monkeys, and Humans. L.M. Herman, A.A. Pack, P. Morrel-Samuels, Representational and Conceptual Skills of Dolphins. M.D. Holder, L.M. Herman, S. Kuczaj II, A Bottlenosed Dolphin's Responses to Anomalous Sequences Expressed Within an Artificial Gestural Language. E.S. Savage-Rumbaugh, Language Learnability in Man, Ape, and Dolphin."
Herbert L. Roitblat, Louis M. Herman, Paul E. Nachtigall
Reviews for Language and Communication: Comparative Perspectives
...provides an excellent summary of the key conceptual issues in comparative language studies....graduate students shopping around for a thesis project relevant to language evolution should read this volume. -Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology The editors are to be congratulated on recruiting and organizing a first-rate crew of authors. Every single chapter held my interest....Old-time comparative psychologists would be utterly amazed by the data. -Contemporary Psychology
