Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The repertoire and intentionality of gestural communication in wild chimpanzees

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A growing body of evidence suggests that human language may have emerged primarily in the gestural rather than vocal domain, and that studying gestural communication in great apes is crucial to understanding language evolution. Although manual and bodily gestures are considered distinct at a neural level, there has been very limited consideration of potential differences at a behavioural level. In this study, we conducted naturalistic observations of adult wild East African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in order to establish a repertoire of gestures, and examine intentionality of gesture production, use and comprehension, comparing across manual and bodily gestures. At the population level, 120 distinct gesture types were identified, consisting of 65 manual gestures and 55 bodily gestures. Both bodily and manual gestures were used intentionally and effectively to attain specific goals, by signallers who were sensitive to recipient attention. However, manual gestures differed from bodily gestures in terms of communicative persistence, indicating a qualitatively different form of behavioural flexibility in achieving goals. Both repertoire size and frequency of manual gesturing were more affiliative than bodily gestures, while bodily gestures were more antagonistic. These results indicate that manual gestures may have played a significant role in the emergence of increased flexibility in great ape communication and social bonding.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arbib MA, Liebal K, Pika S (2008) Primate vocalization, gesture, and the evolution of human language. Curr Anthropol 49:1052–1075. doi:10.1086/593015

    Google Scholar 

  • Arcadi A, Robert D, Boesch C (1998) Buttress drumming by wild chimpanzees: temporal patterning, phrase integration into loud calls, and preliminary evidence for individual distinctiveness. Primates 39:505–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arcadi A, Robert D, Mugurusi F (2004) A comparison of buttress drumming by male chimpanzees from two populations. Primates 45:135–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bard KA (1992) Intentional behavior and intentional communication in young free-ranging orangutans. Child Dev 63(5):1186–1197

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner J (1981) Intention in the structure of action and interaction. In: Lipsett L (ed) Advances in infancy research. Ablex, Norwood

    Google Scholar 

  • Call J, Tomasello M (1996) The effect of humans on the cognitive development of apes. In: Russon AE, Bard KA, Parker ST (eds) Reaching into thought: the minds of the great apes. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cartmill EA, Byrne RW (2010) Semantics of primate gestures: intentional meanings of orangutan gestures. Anim Cogn 13:793–804

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Corballis MC (2003) From mouth to hand: gesture, speech, and the evolution of right-handedness. Behav Brain Sci 26:199–208

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Corballis M (2009) Language as gesture. Hum Mov Sci 28:556–565

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crockford C, Wittig RM, Mundry R, Zuberbuehler K (2012) Wild chimpanzees inform ignorant group members of danger. Curr Biol 22:142–146

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crockford C, Wittig R, Langergraber K, Ziegler T, Zuberbueler K, Deschner T (2013) Urinary oxytocin and social bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees. Proc Royal Soc B Biol Sci 280 (1755)

  • Donald M (1991) Origins of the modern mind: three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar RIM (1996) Grooming, gossip and the evolution of language. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Forrester SG (2008) A multidimensional approach to investigations of behaviour: revealing structure in animal communication signals. Anim Behav 76(5):1749–1760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Genty E, Breuer T, Hobaiter C, Byrne RW (2009) Gestural communication of the gorilla (Gorilla gorilla): repertoire, intentionality and possible origins. Anim Cogn 12:527–546. doi:10.1007/s10071-009-0213-4

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Golinkoff RM (1986) I beg your pardon—the preverbal negotiation of failed messages. J Child Lang 13(3):455–476

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goodall J (1986) The chimpanzees of gombe: patterns of behaviour. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewes GW (1973) Primate communication and the gestural origin of language. Curr Anthropol 14:5–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinde RA, Rowell TE (1962) Communication by posture and facial expression in the rhesus monkey. Proc Zool Soc Lond 138:1–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobaiter K, Byrne R (2011a) The gestural repertoire of the wild chimpanzee. Anim Cogn 14:745–767. doi:10.1007/s10071-011-0409-2

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hobaiter K, Byrne R (2011b) Serial gesturing by wild chimpanzees: its nature and function for communication. Anim Cogn 14:827–838. doi:10.1007/s10071-011-0416-3

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins WD, Pika S, Liebal K, Bania A, Meguerditchian A, Gardner M, Schapiro SJ (2012) Handedness for manual gestures in great apes. In: Developments in Primate Gesture Research, vol 6, pp 93–111

  • Krause MA, Fouts RS (1997) Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) pointing: hand shapes, accuracy, and the role of eye gaze. Int J Comp Psychol 11:330–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leavens DA, Hopkins WD (1998) Intentional communication by chimpanzees: a cross-sectional study of the use of referential gestures. Dev Psychol 34:813–822

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leavens DA, Hopkins WD, Bard KA (1996a) Indexical and referential pointing in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Comp Psychol 110(4):346–353

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leavens DA, Hopkins WD, Bard KA (1996b) Indexical and referential pointing in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Comp Psychol 110:346–353

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leavens DA, Hostetter AB, Wesley MJ, Hopkins WD (2004) Tactical use of unimodal and bimodal communication by chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. Anim Behav 67:467–476. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.04.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leavens DA, Russell JL, Hopkins WD (2005) Intentionality as measured in the persistence and elaboration of communication by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Child Dev 76:291–306

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liebal K, Call J (2012) The origins of non-human primates’ manual gestures. Philos T R Soc B 367:118–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liebal K, Call J, Tomasello M (2004) Use of gesture sequences in chimpanzees. Am J Primatol 64:377–396

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy MS, Jensvold MLA, Fouts DH (2012) Use of gesture sequences in captive chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) play. Anim Cogn:1–11

  • Meguerditchian A, Vauclair J, Hopkins WD (2010) Captive chimpanzees use their right hand to communicate with each other: implications for the origin of the cerebral substrate for language. Cortex 46:40–48

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mundry R, Fischer J (1998) Use of statistical programs for nonparametric tests of small samples often leads to incorrect P values: examples from animal behaviour. Anim Behav 56:256–259

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nishida T, Koichiro Z, Takahisa M, Agumi I, McGrew WC (2010) Chimpanzee behavior in the wild: an audio-visual encyclopaedia. Springer, Tokyo

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Parkinson B (1996) Emotions are social. Brit J Psychol 87:663–683

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parr LA, Cohen M, Waal FD (2005) Influence of social context on the use of blended and graded facial displays in chimpanzees. Int J Primatol 26:73–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pika S, Mitani J (2006) Referential gestural communication in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Curr Biol 16:R191–R192

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pika S, Liebal K, Tomasello M (2005) Gestural communication in subadult bonobos (Pan paniscus): repertoire and use. Am J Primatol 65(1):39–61

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plooij FX (1978) Some basic traits of language in wild chimpanzees. In: Lock A (ed) Action, gesture and symbol: the emergence of language. Academic press, London, pp 111–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Plooij FX (1979) How wild chimpanzee babies trigger the onset of mother-infant play–and what the mother makes of it. In: Bullowa M (ed) Before speech: the beginning of interpersonal communication. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 223–243

    Google Scholar 

  • Plooij F (1984) Behavioural development of free-living chimpanzee babies and Infants. Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollick AS, de Waal FBM (2007) Ape gestures and language evolution. P Natl Acad Sci USA 104:8184–8189

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Puce A, Perrett D (2003) Electrophysiology and brain imaging of biological motion. Philos T R Soc B 358:435–445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds V (2005) The chimpanzees of the Budongo forest: ecology, behaviour, and conservation. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti G, Arbib MA (1998) Language within our grasp. Trends Neurosci 21:188–194

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts AI, Vick S-J, Buchanan-Smith H (2012a) Usage and comprehension of manual gestures in wild chimpanzees. Anim Behav 84:459–470. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.05.022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts AI, Vick S-J, Roberts SGB, Buchanan-Smith HM, Zuberbühler K (2012b) A structure-based repertoire of manual gestures in wild chimpanzees: statistical analyses of a graded communication system. Evol Hum Behav 33(5):578–589. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.05.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts AI, Vick S-J, Buchanan-Smith H (2013) Communicative intentions in wild chimpanzees: persistence and elaboration in gestural signalling. Anim Cogn 16(2):187–196. doi:10.1007/s10071-012-0563-1

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scott N (2013) Gesture use by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): differences between sexes in inter- and intra-sexual interactions. Am J Primatol 75:555–567

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth R, Cheney DL, Marler P (1980) Vervet monkey alarm calls: semantic communication in a free-ranging primate. Anim Behav 28:1070–1109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Bergman T, Fischer J, Zuberbuhler K, Hammerschmidt K (2010) The central importance of information in studies of animal communication. Anim Behav 80:3–8. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.04.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slocombe KE, Waller BM, Liebal K (2011) The language void: the need for multimodality in primate communication research. Anim Behav 81:919–924. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.02.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith LW, Delgado R (2013) Considering the role of social dynamics and positional behaviour in gestural communication research. Am J Primatol

  • Tomasello M, Call J (1997) Primate cognition. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Carpenter M (2007) Shared intentionality. Dev Sci 10(1):121–125. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00573.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Frost GT (1989) A longitudinal investigation of gestural communication in young chimpanzees. Primates 30(1):35–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Zuberbühler K (2002) Primate vocal and gestural communication. In: Bekoff M, Allen CS, Burghardt G (eds) The cognitive animal: empirical and theoretical perspectives on animal cognition. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Call J, Nagell K, Olguin R, Carpenter M (1984) The learning and use of gestural signals by young chimpanzees: a trans-generational study. Primates 37:137–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, George BL, Kruger AC, Jeffrey M, Evans FA (1985) The development of gestural communication in young chimpanzees. J Hum Evol 14:175–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Call J, Nagell K, Olguin R, Carpenter M (1994) The learning and use of gestural signals by young chimpanzees: a trans-generational study. Primates 35(2):137–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Call J, Warren J, Frost T, Carpenter M, Nagell K (1997) The ontogeny of chimpanzee gestural signals: a comparison across groups and generations. Evol Com 1(2):223–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Hooff JARAM (1971) Aspects of the social behaviour and communication in human and higher non-human primates. Bronder-Offset, Rotterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • van Lawick-Goodall J (1967) Mother-offspring relationships in free-ranging chimpanzees. In: Morris D (ed) Primate ethology. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, pp 287–346

    Google Scholar 

  • van Lawick-Goodall J (1968) A preliminary report on expressive movements and communication in the gombe stream chimpanzees. In: Jay P (ed) Primates: studies in adaptation and variability. Holt, Reinhart and Winston, New York, pp 313–374

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallez C, Schaeffer J, Meguerditchian A, Vauclair J, Schapiro SJ, Hopkins WD (2012) Contrast of hemispheric lateralization for oro-facial movements between learned attention-getting sounds and species-typical vocalizations in chimpanzees: extension in a second colony. Brain Lang 123:75–79

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warneken F, Chen F, Tomasello M (2006) Cooperative activities in young children and chimpanzees. Child Dev 77(3):640–663

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Goodall J, McGrew WC, Nishida T, Reynolds V, Sugiyama Y, Tutin CEG, Wrangham RW, Boesch C (1999) Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature 399:682–685

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The fieldwork for this research has been funded by an Economic and Social Research Council + 3 studentship and by the University of Stirling to A.R. We thank Professor Klaus Zuberbühler, the National Council for Science and Technology and Uganda Wildlife Authority in Uganda for granting permission for this work, and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland for providing core funding for the Budongo Conservation Field Station. We thank the staff at Budongo Conservation Field Station, Uganda, especially Geresomu Muhumuza and Amati Steven for providing excellent support in the field.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester, CH1 4BJ, UK

    Anna Ilona Roberts & Samuel George Bradley Roberts

  2. Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda

    Anna Ilona Roberts

  3. Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK

    Sarah-Jane Vick

Authors
  1. Anna Ilona Roberts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Samuel George Bradley Roberts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sarah-Jane Vick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Ilona Roberts.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Roberts, A.I., Roberts, S.G.B. & Vick, SJ. The repertoire and intentionality of gestural communication in wild chimpanzees. Anim Cogn 17, 317–336 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0664-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0664-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation