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Web End = Anim Cogn (2015) 18:11651179 DOI 10.1007/s10071-015-0889-6
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Web End = Learned vocal and breathing behavior in an enculturated gorilla
Marcus Perlman1 Nathaniel Clark2
Received: 15 December 2014 / Revised: 5 June 2015 / Accepted: 16 June 2015 / Published online: 3 July 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
Abstract We describe the repertoire of learned vocal and breathing-related behaviors (VBBs) performed by the enculturated gorilla Koko. We examined a large video corpus of Koko and observed 439 VBBs spread across 161 bouts. Our analysis shows that Koko exercises voluntary control over the performance of nine distinctive VBBs, which involve variable coordination of her breathing, larynx, and supralaryngeal articulators like the tongue and lips. Each of these behaviors is performed in the context of particular manual action routines and gestures. Based on these and other ndings, we suggest that vocal learning and the ability to exercise volitional control over vocalization, particularly in a multimodal context, might have gured
relatively early into the evolution of language, with some rudimentary capacity in place at the time of our last common ancestor with great apes.
Keywords Breath control Gorilla Koko Multimodal
communication Primate vocalization Vocal learning
Introduction
Examining the vocal abilities of great apes is crucial to understanding the evolution of human language and speech since we diverged from our last common ancestor. Many theories on the origins of language begin with two basic premises concerning the vocal behavior of nonhuman primates, especially the great apes. They assume that (1) apes (and other primates) can exercise only negligible volitional control over the production of sound with their vocal tract, and (2) they are unable to learn novel vocal behaviors beyond their species-typical repertoire (e.g., Arbib et al. 2008; Burling 1993; Call and Tomasello 2007; Corballis 2002; Hauser 1996; Levinson and Holler 2014; Pinker 1994; Pollick and De Waal 2007; Premack 2004). These assumptions are often perpetuated through reference to a few notable reports. For example, Goodall, generalizing from her observations of free-ranging chimpanzees in the Gombe Reserve, came to the conclusion that...