How Apes Use Gestures: The Issue of Flexibility
How Apes Use Gestures: The Issue of Flexibility
This chapter presents a summary of the results on gestural communication in apes, and provides an important empirical base for speculations about the role of manual dexterity in language evolution. It concentrates on intentional gestures of the great apes, and considers the use of the pointing gesture and sign language. The chapter suggests that the apes do not use gestures to direct the attention of others to objects or events with the purpose of sharing social attention and emotion about external entities. It shows that apes assess the attentional state of the recipient and select gestures accordingly, or change position to alter the attentional state and then use gestures.
Keywords: gestural communication, apes, intentional gestures, pointing gesture, sign language, social attention, emotion
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