title: Precursors to language: Social cognition and pragmatic inference in primates.
abstract: Despite their differences, human language and the vocal communication of nonhuman primates share many features. Both constitute forms of coordinated activity, rely on many shared neural mechanisms, and involve discrete, combinatorial cognition that includes rich pragmatic inference. These common features suggest that during evolution the ancestors of all modern primates faced similar social problems and responded with similar systems of communication and cognition. When language later evolved from this common foundation, many of its distinctive features were already present.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. seyfarth@psych.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Seyfarth
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Dorothy L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Cheney
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D011323:Primates; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
keywords: Evolution; Language/memory interactions; Nonhuman primates; Social cognition