title: Exorcising Grice's ghost: an empirical approach to studying intentional communication in animals.
abstract: Language's intentional nature has been highlighted as a crucial feature distinguishing it from other communication systems. Specifically, language is often thought to depend on highly structured intentional action and mutual mindreading by a communicator and recipient. Whilst similar abilities in animals can shed light on the evolution of intentionality, they remain challenging to detect unambiguously. We revisit animal intentional communication and suggest that progress in identifying analogous capacities has been complicated by (i) the assumption that intentional (that is, voluntary) production of communicative acts requires mental-state attribution, and (ii) variation in approaches investigating communication across sensory modalities. To move forward, we argue that a framework fusing research across modalities and species is required. We structure intentional communication into a series of requirements, each of which can be operationalised, investigated empirically, and must be met for purposive, intentionally communicative acts to be demonstrated. Our unified approach helps elucidate the distribution of animal intentional communication and subsequently serves to clarify what is meant by attributions of intentional communication in animals and humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.|Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, U.K.
authors.forename: Simon W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Townsend
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.|Centre of Excellence in Intersubjectivity in Interaction, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, PO Box 4, Helsinki, 00014, Finland.
authors.forename: Sonja E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Koski
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Neuroscience, St Andrews University, St Andrews, KY16 9JP, U.K.
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of York, York, YO10 DD, U.K.
authors.forename: Katie E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Slocombe
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Balthasar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bickel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health, Danube University, Krems, 3500, Austria.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boeckle
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Braga Goncalves
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Judith M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Burkart
authors.affiliation: Percy Fitzpatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Flower
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille University/CNRS, Marseille, 13331, France.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gaunet
authors.affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8044, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hans Johann
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Glock
authors.affiliation: Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1202, Geneva.
authors.forename: Thibaud
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David A W A M
authors.initials: DAWAM
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, 14195, Germany.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liebal
authors.affiliation: German Seminar, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8001, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Linke
authors.affiliation: Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1117, Hungary.
authors.forename: Ádám
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Miklósi
authors.affiliation: Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10099, Germany.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Carel P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: van Schaik
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8032, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stoll
authors.affiliation: Zoology Department, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, U.K.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vail
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, P01 2UP, U.K.
authors.forename: Bridget M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Waller
authors.affiliation: Philosophy Seminar, Basel University, Basel, 4051, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wild
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Neuroscience, St Andrews University, St Andrews, KY16 9JP, U.K.|Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, 2000, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zuberbühler
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marta B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Manser
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D009042:Motivation; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards
keywords: communication; gesture; intentionality; language evolution; vocalisation