The Gestural Communication of Apes and Monkeys

Josep Call, Michael Tomasello

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 2007 - Social Science - 256 pages

The Gestural Communication of Apes and Monkeys is an intriguing compilation of naturalistic and experimental research conducted over the course of 20 years on gestural communication in primates, as well as a comparison to what is known about the vocal communication of nonhuman primates. The editors also make systematic comparisons to the gestural communication of prelinguistic and just-linguistic human children. An enlightening exploration unfolds into what may represent the starting point for the evolution of human communication and language.
 
This especially significant read is organized into nine chapters that discuss:
*the gestural repertoire of chimpanzees;
*gestures in orangutans, subadult gorillas, and siamangs;
*gestural communication in Barbary macaques; and
*a comparison of the gestures of apes and monkeys.
 
This book will appeal to psychologists, anthropologists, and linguists interested in the evolutionary origins of language and/or gestures, as well as to all primatologists. A CD insert offers video of gestures for each of the species.

About the author

Josep Call is a comparative psychologist specialising in primate cognition at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. He is also the co-founder of the Wolfgang Kohler primate research centre and has an extensive back catalogue of works including 3 books and nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Gestural Communication of Apes and Monkeys
• Editors: Josep Call, Michael Tomasello
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 2007
• ISBN: 0805853650, 9780805853650
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / General