Tomasello Michael, Call Josep
Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, USA.
Anim Cogn. 2019 Jul;22(4):461-469. doi: 10.1007/s10071-018-1167-1. Epub 2018 Feb 21.
We and our colleagues have been doing studies of great ape gestural communication for more than 30 years. Here we attempt to spell out what we have learned. Some aspects of the process have been reliably established by multiple researchers, for example, its intentional structure and its sensitivity to the attentional state of the recipient. Other aspects are more controversial. We argue here that it is a mistake to assimilate great ape gestures to the species-typical displays of other mammals by claiming that they are fixed action patterns, as there are many differences, including the use of attention-getters. It is also a mistake, we argue, to assimilate great ape gestures to human gestures by claiming that they are used referentially and declaratively in a human-like manner, as apes' "pointing" gesture has many limitations and they do not gesture iconically. Great ape gestures constitute a unique form of primate communication with their own unique qualities.
我和我的同事们对大型猿类的手势交流进行研究已经超过30年了。在此，我们试图阐述我们所学到的东西。该过程的一些方面已被多位研究人员可靠地证实，例如，其意图结构以及对接收者注意力状态的敏感性。其他方面则更具争议性。我们在此认为，将大型猿类的手势同其他哺乳动物的物种典型展示相类比，声称它们是固定动作模式，这是错误的，因为存在许多差异，包括使用吸引注意力的方式。我们还认为，将大型猿类的手势同人类手势相类比，声称它们以类似人类的方式用于指示性和陈述性目的，这也是错误的，因为猿类的“指”手势有许多局限性，而且它们不会以象形方式做手势。大型猿类的手势构成了一种具有自身独特性质的灵长类动物交流的独特形式。
