Cover not available

In:How the Brain Got Language – Towards a New Road Map:
Edited by Michael A. Arbib
[Benjamins Current Topics 112] 2020
► pp. 200–215

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Pantomime and imitation in great apes

Implications for reconstructing the evolution of language

 | Glendon College of York University
Published online: 11 August 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.112.14rus
Abstract
This paper assesses great apes’ abilities for pantomime and action imitation, two communicative abilities proposed as key contributors to language evolution. Modern great apes, the only surviving nonhuman hominids, are important living models of the communicative platform upon which language evolved. This assessment is based on 62 great ape pantomimes identified via data mining plus published reports of great ape action imitation. Most pantomimes were simple, imperative, and scaffolded by partners’ relationship and scripts; some resemble declaratives, some were sequences of several inter-related elements. Imitation research consistently shows great apes perform action imitation at low fidelity, but also that action imitation may not represent a distinct process or function. Discussion focuses on how findings may advance reconstruction of the evolution of language, including what great apes may contribute to understanding ‘primitive’ forms of pantomime and imitation and how to improve their study.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Pantomime
    • Semantics
    • Tools, relationships, scripts
  • Imitation
  • Towards a new road map
  • References
References (39)
References
Arbib, M. A. (2012). How the Brain Got Language: The Mirror System Hypothesis. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Towards a computational comparative neuroprimatology: Framing the language-ready brain. Physics of Life Reviews, 16, 1–54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arbib, M. A., Liebal, K., & Pika, S. (2008). Primate vocalization, gesture, and the evolution of human language. Current Anthropology, 49(6), 1053–1076. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Byrne, R.W. & Russon, A. E. (1998). Learning by imitation: A hierarchical approach. Brain and Behavioral Sciences, 21, 667–721. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Byrne, R. W. & Tanner, J. E. (2006). Gestural imitation by a gorilla: evidence and nature of the capacity. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 6, 215–31.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Byrne, R. W. & Whiten, A. (1990). Tactical deception in primates: the 1990 database. Primate Report, 27, 1–101.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Call, J. (2001). Body imitation in an enculturated orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Cybernetics and Systems, 32, 97–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Connolly, K. & Dalgleish, M. (1989). The emergence of a tool-using skill in infancy. Developmental Psychology, 25(6), 894–912. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corballis, M. C. (2017). Precursors to language. Topoi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Custance, D., Whiten, A., & Bard, K. A. (1995). Can young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) imitate arbitrary actions? Hayes & Hayes (1952) revisited. Behaviour, 132, 837–859. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Waal, F. B. M. (1982). Chimpanzee Politics. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Douglas, P. H. & Moscovice, L. R. (2015). Pointing and pantomime in wild apes? Female bonobos use referential and iconic gestures to request genito-genital rubbing. Scientific Reports, 5–13999. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halina, M., Rossano, F., & Tomasello, M. (2013). The ontogenetic ritualization of bonobo gestures. Animal Cognition, 16, 653–666. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayes, K. J. & Hayes, C. (1952). Imitation in a home-raised chimpanzee. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 46, 450–459. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hinde, R. A. (1976a). Interactions, relationships and social structure. Man, 11, 1–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1976b). On describing relationships. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17, 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2011). The gestural repertoire of the wild chimpanzee. Animal Cognition. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lyn, H., Greenfield, P. M., Savage-Rumbaugh, S., Gillespie-Lynch, K., & Hopkins, W. D. (2011). Nonhuman primates do declare! A comparison of declarative symbol and gesture use in two children, two bonobos, and a chimpanzee. Language and Cognition, 31, 63–74.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lyons, D. E., Young, A. G., & Keil, F. C. (2007). The hidden structure of overimitation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 19751–19756. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McNeill, D. (ed.) (2000). Language and Gesture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meinel, M. (1995). Eliciting true imitation of object use in captive orangutans. Unpublished BA thesis, York University, Toronto, Canada.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miles, H. L., Mitchell, R. W. & Harper, S. E. (1996). Simon says: the development of imitation in an enculturated orangutan. In A. E. Russon, K. A. Bard & S. T. Parker (Eds.), Reaching into Thought, (pp. 278–299). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitani, J. C., Call, J., Kappeler, P. M., Palombit, R. A., & Silk, J. B. (2012). The Evolution of Primate Societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitchell, R. W. (1999). Deceit and concealment as strategic script violation in great apes and humans. In S. T. Parker, R. W. Mitchell & H. L. Miles (Eds.), The Mentalities of Gorillas and Orangutans: Comparative Perspectives, (pp. 295–315). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press: Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1981). Social cognition in a script framework. In J. H. Flavell & L. Ross (Eds.), Social Cognitive Development (pp. 97–118). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Orangutan Cultures (2017). Orangutan Network, Dept. Anthropology, Universität Zurich. [URL] (Sept. 30, 2017)
Russon, A. E. & Andrews, K. A. (2010). Orangutan pantomime: elaborating on the message. Biology Letters, 7(4), 627–630. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russon, A. E., & Andrews, K. A. (2011). Pantomime in great apes: evidence and implications. Communicative and Integrative Biology, 4(3), 315–317. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russon, A. E. & Begun, D. (eds.) (2004). The Evolution of Thought: Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelligence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russon, A. E. & Galdikas, B. M. F. (1993). Imitation in free-ranging rehabilitant orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 107, 147–161. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1995). Constraints on great apes’ imitation: Model and action selectivity in rehabilitant orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) imitation. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 109(1), 5–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Subiaul, F., Renner, E., & Krajkowski, E. (2016). The comparative study of imitation mechanisms in non-human primates. In S. S. Obhi & E. S. Cross (Eds.), Shared Representations: Sensorimotor Foundations of Social Life (pp. 109–136). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Suddendorf, T., Fletcher-Flinn, C., & Johnston, L. (1999). Pantomime and theory of mind. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 160(1), 31–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taniguchi, Y. & Sanefuji, W. (2017). The boundaries of overimitation in preschool children: Effects of target and tool use on imitation of irrelevant actions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 159, 83–95. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tanner, J. E. (2008). Commentary. Current Anthropology, 49(6), 1067–1068.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tomasello, M., & Call, J. (1997). Primate Cognition. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and Language. MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yando, R., Seitz, V., & Zigler, E. (1978). Imitation: A Developmental Perspective. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, Y. & Kushner, T. (2014). Social context effects in 2- and 4-year olds’ selective versus faithful imitation. Developmental Psychology, 50(3), 922–933. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue