Communication in Humans and Other Animals

Gisela Håkansson | Lund University

Jennie Westander | Parken Zoo | Linköping University

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027204578 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

Paperback – Available

ISBN 9789027204585 | EUR 36.00 | USD 54.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027272010 | EUR 99.00/36.00*
| USD 149.00/54.00*

Communication is a basic behaviour, found across animal species. Human language is often thought of as a unique system, which separates humans from other animals. This textbook serves as a guide to different types of communication, and suggests that each is unique in its own way: human verbal and nonverbal communication, communication in nonhuman primates, in dogs and in birds. Research questions and findings from different perspectives are summarized and integrated to show students similarities and differences in the rich diversity of communicative behaviours.
A core topic is how young individuals proceed from not being able to communicate to reaching a state of competent communicators, and the role of adults in this developmental process. Evolutionary aspects are also taken into consideration, and ideas about the evolution of human language are examined. The cross-disciplinary nature of the book makes it useful for courses in linguistics, biology, sociology and psychology, but it is also valuable reading for anyone interested in understanding communicative behaviour.

[Advances in Interaction Studies, 4] 2013. xi, 242 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/ais.4

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements | pp. xi–xii

1. Introduction | pp. 1–22

2. Overview of biological signal systems | pp. 23–46

3. Human language – its use and learning | pp. 47–78

4. Human nonverbal communication | pp. 79–108

5. Our closest relatives – nonhuman primates | pp. 109–138

6. Man’s best friend – the dog | pp. 139–162

7. Communication in birds | pp. 163–186

8. Discussion and outlook – why language? | pp. 187–200

Glossary | pp. 201–204

Index | pp. 241–242

“This is a fascinating text, which bridges the gap between human and non-human communication. Whereas human spoken language is often considered qualitatively different from communication in other species, the authors successfully show the evolutionary continuum and thereby place human verbal interactions in a fascinating context. I hope the book will find a large audience.”

Per Jensen, Professor of Ethology, Linköping University

“"Communication in Humans and Other Animals" is a rare book that successfully bridges the gap between human and animal communication studies, doing justice to both areas. The communication systems of selected species are presented in an accessible manner, with a solid foundation of empirical studies. The full spectrum of communication modalities through different sensory channels is covered, as well as relevant theory and methodology. This would be an eminent choice of textbook for a course on comparative communication, with students coming from either linguistics, ethology, or communication science.”

Sverker Johansson, Lecturer in Physics, Jönköping University

“This text treats human language as one of many communicative systems in the animal world, a perspective that is often lacking in linguistics curricula, which tend to regard human language as a unique and isolated phenomenon. This welcome addition to the textbook literature gives a thorough introduction to the evolutionary basis for human language, and also gives a foundation for understanding the biological metaphors that are increasingly used in various branches of linguistics. The text does not assume any previous knowledge of linguistics or biology and should be suitable for students of both subjects.”

Jan-Olov Svantesson, Professor of General Linguistics, Lund University

Cited by (8)

Cited by eight other publications

Order by:

Pesce, Emanuele & Giovanni Montana

2023. Learning multi-agent coordination through connectivity-driven communication. Machine Learning 112:2 ► pp. 483 ff.

Bergler, Christian, Simeon Q. Smeele, Stephen A. Tyndel, Alexander Barnhill, Sara T. Ortiz, Ammie K. Kalan, Rachael Xi Cheng, Signe Brinkløv, Anna N. Osiecka, Jakob Tougaard, Freja Jakobsen, Magnus Wahlberg, Elmar Nöth, Andreas Maier & Barbara C. Klump

2022. ANIMAL-SPOT enables animal-independent signal detection and classification using deep learning. Scientific Reports 12:1

Pleyer, Michael & Stefan Hartmann

2020. Construction grammar for monkeys?. Evolutionary Linguistic Theory 2:2 ► pp. 153 ff.

Schötz, Susanne

2020. Phonetic Variation in Cat–Human Communication. In Pets as Sentinels, Forecasters and Promoters of Human Health, ► pp. 319 ff.

Ongstad, Sigmund

2019. A Conceptual Framework for Studying Evolutionary Origins of Life-Genres. Biosemiotics 12:2 ► pp. 245 ff.

Ongstad, Sigmund

2021. Can Animals Refer? Meta-Positioning Studies of Animal Semantics. Biosemiotics 14:2 ► pp. 433 ff.

Heinrich, Stefan & Stefan Wermter

2018. Interactive natural language acquisition in a multi-modal recurrent neural architecture. Connection Science 30:1 ► pp. 99 ff.

[no author supplied]

2024. Culture and Tourism. In Communication and Tourism, ► pp. 50 ff.

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