PRIMATE PRAGMATICS: PUTTY-NOSED MONKEYS USE CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION TO DISAMBIGUATE THE CAUSE OF ALARM CALLS

摘要

1．Introduction Animal calls vary widely in their potential to reliably convey information depending on a number of factors including whether they are given in a narrow or wide range of contexts. Calls that are clearly distinguishable and context-specific have been termed functionally referential, and have received considerable attention because they offer a potential link with human symbolic communication. In the context of predator detection, they have commonly been described as predator-specific alarm calls and are thought to refer to specific predator types that require different escape strategies. However, in putty-nosed monkeys, a forest primate, adult males have a very restricted repertoire of loud/alarm calls which are given in response to a wide variety of disturbances which include, but are not limited to, predators under conditions of poor visibility. Yet, to respond adaptively, listeners must find ways to identify the cause of a signal.