Desmantelando el sesgo linguacéntrico: la comunicación primate es multimodal

Main Article Content

Carolina Scotto
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2013-8539

Abstract

I call linguacentric bias a variety of anthropocentric bias that consists of approaching comparative studies of animal communication based on a formal and idealized characterization of language and human communication. This model has unjustifiably widened the gap between the two. I propose to identify its distorting effects in terms of its commitment to a unimodal characterization of communicative signals. After arguing for a pragmatic-interactive approach to the most basic forms of human communication and intentional communication in nonhuman primates, I propose that the first step in dismantling other components of the linguacentric bias is to investigate primate communication within a multimodal paradigm.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Scotto, C. (2026). Desmantelando el sesgo linguacéntrico: la comunicación primate es multimodal. Crítica. Revista Hispanoamericana De Filosofía, 58(172), 85–126. https://doi.org/10.22201/iifs.18704905e.2026.1784

PLUMX Metrics

References

Amici, Federica, Linda Oña y Katja Liebal, 2024, “Compositionality in Primate Gestural Communication and Multicomponent Signal Displays”, International Journal of Primtology, vol. 45, pp. 482–500.

Andrews, Kristin, 2020, The Animal Mind. An Introduction to Animal Cognition, Routledge, Londres y Nueva York.

Aristotle, 1970, Historia Animalium, vol. II, Books IV–VI, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Bar-On, Dorit, 2025, “ ‘Pragmatics-First’: Animal Communication and the Evolution of Language”, Review of Philosophy and Psychology, vol. 16, pp. 1–28.

Bar-On, Dorit, 2021, “How To Do Things with Nonwords: Pragmatics, Biosemantics, and Origins of Language in Animal Communication”, Biology & Philosophy, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 1–25.

Byrne, Richard W., Erica Cartmill, Emilie Genty, Kirsty E. Graham, Catherine Hobaiter y Jessica Tanner, 2017, “Great Ape Gestures: Intentional Communication with a Rich Set of Innate Signals”, Animal Cognition, vol. 20, pp. 755–769.

Cartmill, Erica, 2023, “Overcoming Bias in The Comparison of Human Language and Animal Communication”, Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 230, 47, e2218799120.

Cartmill, Erica A. y Richard W. Byrne, 2007, “Orangutans Modify Their Gestural Signaling according to Their Audience’s Comprehension”, Current Biology, vol. 17, no. 15, pp. 1345–1348.

Crockford, Catherine, Roman M. Wittig, Roger Mundry y Klaus Zuberbühler, 2012, “Wild Chimpanzees Inform Ignorant Group Members of Danger”, Current biology, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 142–146.

Crockford, Catherine, Ilka Herbinger, Linda Vigilant y Christophe Boesch, 2004, “Wild Wild Chimpanzees Produce Group-Specific Calls: A Case For Vocal Learning?”, Ethology, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 221–243.

Devitt, Michael y Kim Sterelny, 1999, Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language, Wiley-Blackwell, Cambridge.

Doherty, Emma, Marina Davila-Ross y Zanna Clay, 2023, “Multimodal Development Communication in Semiwild Chimpanzees”, Animal Behavior, vol. 201, pp. 175–190.

Fedurek, Pawel y Katie E. Slocombe, 2011, “Primate Vocal Communication: A Useful Tool for Understanding Human Speech and Language Evolution?”, Human Biology, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 153–173.

Fedurek, Pawel, Katie E. Slocombe, Jessica Hartel, y Karl Zuberbühler, 2015, “Chimpanzee Lip-Smacking Facilitates Cooperative Behavior”, Scientific Reports, 5, 13460.

Filippi, Piera, 2016, “Emotional and Interactional Prosody across Animal Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach to the Emergence of Language”, Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 7, 1393.

Fröhlich, Marlen, 2017, “Taking Turns across Channels: Conversation-Analytic Tools in Animal Communication”, Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 80, pp. 201–209.

Fröhlich, Marlen y Carel P. van Schaik, 2020, “Must All Signals Be Evolved? A Proposal for a New Classification of Communicative Acts”, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, vol. 11, no. 4, e1527.

Fröhlich, Marlen y Carel P. van Schaik, 2018, “The Function of Animal Multimodal Communication”, Animal Cognition, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 619–629.

Fröhlich, Marlen, Christine Sievers, Simon W. Townsend, Thibaud Gruber y Carel P. van Schaik,2019, “Multimodal Communication and Language Origins: Integrating Gestures and Vocalizations”, Biological Reviews, vol. 94, no. 5, pp. 1809–1829.

Fröhlich, Marlen, Paul Kuchenbuch, Gudrun Müller, Barbara Fruth, Takeshi Furuichi, Roman M. Wittig y Simone Pika, 2016, “Unpeeling The Layers of language: Bonobos and Chimpanzees Engage in Cooperative Turn-Taking Sequences”, Scientific Reports, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–14.

Genty, Emilie, Zanna Clay, Catherine Hobaiter y Klaus Zuberbühler, 2014, “Multi-Modal Use of Socially Directed Call in Bonobos”, PlosOne, vol. 9, no. 1, e84738.

Ghazanfar, Asif A., 2013, “Multisensory Vocal Communication in Primates and the Evolution of Rhythmic Speech”, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 67, no. 9, pp. 1441–1448.

Graham, Kirsty E., Federico Rossano y Richard Moore, 2025, “The Origins of Great Ape Gestural Forms, Biological Reviews, vol. 100, no. 1, pp. 190–204.

Graham, Kirsty E., Takeshi Furuichi y Richard W. Byrne, 2017, “The Gestural Repertoire of the Wild Bonobo (Pan Paniscus): A Mutually Understood Communication System”, Animal Cognition, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 171–177.

Glazer, Tim, 2019, “The Social Amplification View of Facial Expression”, Biology & Philosophy, vol. 34, no.33.

Grice, Herbert P., 1975, “Logic and Conversation”, en Peter Cole y Jerry L. Morgan (eds.), Syntax and Semantics, vol. 3: Speech Acts, Academic Press, Nueva York, pp. 33–48.

Grice, Herbert P., 1977, Significado, Cuadernos de Crítica, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas-UNAM, México.

Hauser, Marc D., Noam Chomsky y W. Tecumesh, Fitch, 2002, “The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve?”, Science, vol. 298, no. 5598, pp. 1569–1579.

Hebets, Eilen A., 2011, “Currents Status and Future Directions of Research in Complex Signaling”, Current Zoology, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. i–v.

Hebets, Eilen A. y Daniel R. Papaj, 2005, “Complex Signal Function: Developing a Framework of Testable Hypotheses”, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 197–214.

Higham, James P. y Eilen A. Hebets, 2013, “An Introduction to Multimodal Communication”, Behavioral Ecology of Sociobiology, vol. 67, pp. 1381–1388.

Hobaiter, Catherine, Richard W. Byrne y Klaus Zuberbühler, 2017, “Wild Chimpanzees’ Use of Single and Combined Vocal and Gestural Signals”, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 71, 96.

Hobaiter, Catherine y Richard W. Byrne, 2014, “The Meanings of Chimpanzee Gestures”, Current Biology, vol. 24, no. 14, pp. 1596–1600.

Hockett, Charles F., 1960, “The Origin of Speech”, Scientific American, vol. 203, no. 3, pp. 88–111.

Hostetter, Autumn B., Monica Cantero y William D. Hopkins, 2001, “Differential Use of Vocal and Gestural Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) in Response to the Attentional Status of A Human (Homo Sapiens)”, Journal of Comparative Psychology, vol. 115, no. 4, pp. 337–343.

Keiser, Jessica, 2023, Non-Ideal Foundations of Language, Routledge, Nueva York.

Leavens, David, Jamie L. Russell, y William D. Hopkins, 2010, “Multimodal Communication by Captive Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes)”, Animal Cognition, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 33–40.

Leavens, David, 2007, “Animal Cognition: Multimodal Tactics of Orangutan Communication”, Current Biology, vol. 17, no. 17, R762.

Levinson, Stephen C., 2022, “The Evolution of Interactional Engine: Cutness Selection and the Evolution of Interactional Base of Language”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, vol. 377, no. 1859, 20210108.

Levinson, Stephen C., 2019, “Interactional Foundations of Language: the Interaction Engine Hypothesis”, en Peter Hagoort (ed.), Human Language: from Genes and Brain to Behavior, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 189–200.

Levinson, Stephen C., 2016, “Turn-Taking in Human Communication: Origins and Implications for Language Processing”, Trends in Cognitive Science, vol. 20, pp. 6–14.

Levinson, Stephen C. y Judith Holler, 2014, “The Origin of Human Multi-Modal Communication”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, vol. 369, no. 1651, 2013030.

Levinson, Stephen C., 2006, “On the Human ‘Interaction Engine’ ”, en Nicholas J. Enfield, Stephen C. Levinson (eds.), Roots of Human Sociality: Culture, Cognition and Interaction, Berg, Oxford, Reino Unido, pp. 39–69.

Liebal, Katja, Katie E. Slocombe y Bridget M. Waller, 2022, “The Language Void 10 Years On: Multimodal Primate Communication Research is Still Uncommon”, Ethology, Ecology & Evolution, vol. 34, no. 22, pp. 274–287.

Liebal, Katja, Bridget M. Waller, Anne M. Burrows y Katie E. Slocombe, 2014, Primate Communication: A Multimodal Approach, Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge.

Linell, Per, 2005, The Written Language Bias: Its Nature, Origins, and Transformations, Routledge, Londres y Nueva York.

Maynard-Smith, John y David Harper, 2003, Animal Signals, Oxford University Press, Nueva York.

Mine, Joseph G., Claudia Wilke, Chiara Zulberti, Chiara, Melika Behjati, Alexandra Bosshard, Sabine Stoll, Zarin P. Machanda, Andri Manser, Katie E. Slocombe, Simon Townsend y W. Simon, 2024, “Vocal-Visual Combinations in Wild Chimpanzees”, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 78, no. 10, 108.

Moore, Richard, 2017a, “Gricean Communication and Cognitive Development”, Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 67, no. 267, pp. 303–326.

Moore, Richard, 2017b, “Pragmatics’s First Approaches to the Evolution of Language”, Psychological Enquiry. An International Journal for the Advancement of Psychological Theory, vol. 28, no. 2–3, pp. 206–210.

Moore, Richard, 2016, “Meaning and Ostension in Great Ape Gestural Communication”, Animal Cognition, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 223–231.

Moore, Richard y Bart Geurts, 2025, “Introduction”, en Bart Geurts y Richard Moore (eds.), Evolutionary Pragmatics: Communicative Interaction and the Origins of Language, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. xiii–xxii.

Owren, Michael J., Drew Rendall y Michael J. Ryan, 2010, “Redefining Animal Signaling: Influence vs. Information in Communication”, Biology & Philosophy, vol. 25, pp. 755–780.

Palazzolo, Giulia, 2025, “What is Animal Communication?”, Ergo an Open Access Journal of Philosophy.

Partan, Sarah R. y Peter Marler, 2005, “Issues in the Classification of Multisensory Communication Signals”, American Nauralist, vol. 166, no. 2, pp. 231–245.

Partan, Sarah R. y Peter Marler, 1999, “Communication Goes Multimodal”, Science, vol. 283, no. 5406, pp. 1272–1273.

Perniss, Pamela, 2018, “Why We Should Study Multimodal Language”, Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 9, 1109.

Pika, Simone y Marlen Fröhlich, 2019, “Gestural Acquisition in Great Apes: The Social Negotiation Hypothesis”, Animal Cognition, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 551–565.

Pika, Simone, Ray Wilkinson, Kobin H. Kendrick y Sonja C. Vernes, 2018, “Taking Turns: Bridging the Gap between Human and Animal Communication”, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 285, 1880, 20180598.

Planer, Ronald J., 2023a, “Going Dennettian about Gricean Communication”, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 1271–1294.

Planer, Ronald J., 2023b, “Conversation and the Evolution of Metacognition”, Evolutionary Linguistic Theory, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 53–78.

Rendall, Drew, Michael J. Owren y Michael J. Ryan, 2009, “What Do Animal Signals Mean?”, Animal Behavior, vol. 78, no. 2, pp. 233–240.

Rossano, Federico y Stephan Kaufhold, 2021, “Animal Communication Review”, en Allison B. Kaufman, Josep Call y James C. Kaufman (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Animal Cognition, Oxford University Press, Reino Unido, pp. 5-35.

Rossano, Federico y Katja Liebal, 2014, “ “Requests” and “Offers” in Orangutans

and Human Infants”, en Paul Drew y Elizabeth y Couper Kuhlen (eds.), Requesting in Social Interaction, vol. 26, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 335–364.

Rossano, Federico, 2013a, “Gaze in Conversation”, en Jack Sidnell y Tanya Stivers (eds.), The Handbook of Conversational Analysis, Wiley-Blackwell, Reino Unido, pp. 308–329.

Rossano, Federico, 2013b, “Sequence Organization and Timing of Bonobo Mother-Infant Interactions”, Interaction Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 160–189.

Rowe, Candy, 1999, “Receiver Psychology and the Evolution of Multicomponent Signals”, Animal Behaviour, vol. 58, pp. 921–931.

Schel, Anne M., Simon W. Townsend, Zarin Machanda, Klaus Zuberbühler y Katie E. Slocombe, 2013, “Chimpanzee Alarm Call Production Meets Key Criteria for Intentionality”, PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 10, e76674.

Scotto, Carolina, 2025, “Cognición social de segunda persona en la comunicación cara-a-cara”, en Ángeles Eraña y Santiago Echeverri (comps.), Yo, tú, nosotras (lenguaje, cognición y creencia), Bonilla/Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas-UNAM, México, pp. 105–141.

Scotto, Carolina, 2024, “The Anthropocentric Bias in Animal Cognition”, ArtefaCTos, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 85–116.

Scotto, Carolina, 2022, “A Pragmatics-First Approach to Faces”, Topoi, vol. 41, pp. 641–657.

Scott-Phillips, Thom C., 2015, Non-Human Primate Communication, Pragmatics, and the Origins of Language”, Current Anthropology, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 56–80.

Seyfarth, Robert y Dorothy Cheney, 2018, “Pragmatic Flexibility in Primate Vocal Production”, Current Opinions in Behavioral Sciences, vol. 21, pp. 56–61.

Seyfarth, Robert y Dorothy Cheney, 2017, “The Origin of Meaning in Animal Signals”, Animal Behavior, vol. 124, pp. 339–346.

Seyfarth, Robert M., Dorothy L. Cheney y Peter Marler, 1980, “Monkey Responses to Three Different Alarm Calls: Evidence of Predator Classification and Semantic Communication”, Science, vol. 210, no. 4471, pp. 801–803.

Shanker, Stuart G. y Barbara J. King, 2002, “The Emergence of a New Paradigm in Ape Language Research: Beyond Interactionism”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 646–651.

Slocombe, Katie E., Bridget M. Waller y Katja Liebal, 2011, “The Void of Language: the Need for Multimodality in Primate Communication Research”, Animal Behaviour, vol. 81, no. 5, pp. 919–924.

Spence, Charles, 2011, “Crossmodal Correspondences: A Tutorial Review”, Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, vol. 73, pp. 971–995.

Taglialatela, Jared P., Jamie L. Russell, Sara H. Pope, Tamara Morton, Stephanie Bogart, Lisa A. Reamer, Stepehen J. Schapiro y William D. Hopkins, 2015, “Multimodal Communication in Chimpanzees”, American Journal of Primatology, vol. 77, no. 11, pp. 1143–1148.

Tinbergen, Nikolaas, 1952, “ ‘Derived’ Activities; Their Causation, Biological Significance, Origin, and Emancipation during Evolution”, The Quarterly Review Bioloby, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 1–32.

Tomasello, Michael, Joseph Call, Katherine Nagel, Raquel Olguin y Malinda Carpenter, 1994, “The Learning and Use of Gestural Signals by Young Chimpanzees: A Transgenerational Study”, Primates, vol. 35, pp. 137–154.

Tomasello, Michael, 2008, Los orígenes de la comunicación humana, Katz Ed. Buenos Aires, 2013.

Townsend, Simon W. et al., 2017, “Exorcising Grice’s Ghost: An Empirical Approach to Studying Intentional Communication in Animals”, Biological Review, vol. 92, no. 3, pp. 1427–1433.

Townsend, Simon W., Stuart K. Watson y Katie Slocombe, 2020, “Flexibility in Great Ape Vocal Production”, en Lydia M. Hopper, Stephen R. Ross (eds.), Chimpanzees in Context: A Comparative Perspective on Chimpanzee Behavior, Cognition, Conservation, and Welfare, University of Chicago Press, Chicago y Londres, pp. 260–280.

Ullrich, Robert, Moritz Mittelbach y Katja Liebal, 2018, “ ‘Scala Naturae’: the Impact of Historical Values on Current ‘Evolution of Language’ Discourse”, Journal of Language Evolution, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1–12.

Vigliocco, Gabriella, Pamela Perniss y David Vinson, 2014, “Language as a Multimodal Phenomenon: Implications for Language Learning, Processing and Evolution”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, vol. 369, 20130292.

Wheeler, Brandon C. y Julia Fischer, 2012, “Functionally Referential Signals: A Promising Paradigm Whose Time Has Passed”, Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 195–205.

Wilke, Claudia, Eithne Kavanagh, Ed Donnellan, Bridget M. Waller, Zarin P. Machanda y Katie E. Slocombe, 2017, “Production of and Responses to Unimodal and Multimodal Signals in Wild Chimpanzees, Pan Troglodytes Schweinfurthii”, Animal Behaviour, vol. 123, pp. 305–316.