Pika, Simone, Wilkinson, Ray, Kendrick, Kobin H. orcid.org/0000-0002-6656-1439 et al. (1 more author) (2018) Taking turns: bridging the gap between human and animal communication. Proceedings of the royal society b-Biological sciences. 20180598. ISSN 1471-2954
Abstract
Language, humans’ most distinctive trait, still remains a ‘mystery’ for evolutionary theory. It is underpinned by a universal infrastructure—cooperative turn-taking—which has been suggested as an ancient mechanism bridging the existing gap between the articulate human species and their inarticulate primate cousins. However, we know remarkably little about turn-taking systems of non-human animals, and methodological confounds have often prevented meaningful cross-species comparisons. Thus, the extent to which cooperative turn-taking is uniquely human or represents a homologous and/or analogous trait is currently unknown. The present paper draws attention to this promising research avenue by providing an overview of the state of the art of turn-taking in four animal taxa—birds, mammals, insects and anurans. It concludes with a new comparative framework to spur more research into this research domain and to test which elements of the human turn-taking system are shared across species and taxa.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Authors, 2018 |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Language and Linguistic Science (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 13 Sep 2019 14:50 |
Last Modified: | 21 Jan 2025 17:33 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.0598 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1098/rspb.2018.0598 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:150857 |