Kaldy, Z. (1999). Birds, vervets and referentiality. Hungarian Psychological Review (Magyar Pszichológiai Szemle), 53, 71-75. (In Hungarian)

A book review of Marc Hauser: The evolution of communication.

The organizing principle in Hauser’s monumental work is based on the Nobel-Prize winner biologist Niko Tinbergen’s approach. According to this, the science of animal behavior should be based on an integration of four perspectives: (1) mechanistic, (2) ontogenetic, (3) functional and (4) philogenetic. He uses the example of vocal communication in wild rhesus monkeys to present the benefits of this integration.

One of his main questions is how to draw a boundary between language and communication. Instead of using the traditional “syntax vs. no syntax” distinction, his central concept is reference. He distinguishes signals that are context-dependent expressions of motivational or affective states and signals that are context-independent, therefore truly referential. After reviewing a considerable amount of data, he finds that only some primates and a few other species (such as bees) use referential signals. He speculates about the specific ecological environments where truly referential communication systems have biological advantages and discusses the most recent results of cognitive ethology on referential signals in primates and their parallels in developmental psychology. The book, besides being a useful handbook of communication in higher order vertebrates, is a very informative and provocative treatment of the theoretical issues surrounding animal and human communication.