Functional Dimensions of Ape-Human Discourse - James D. Benson
The ideational dimension: evidence for symbolic language processing in a bonobo (Pan paniscus)
Functional Dimensions of Ape-Human Discourse - James D. Benson
James D. Benson [+]
York University, Toronto
James D. Benson is Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar in the English at Glendon College, York University, Toronto. He is co-author (with William S. Greaves) of You and Your Language: The Kinds of English you Use (Pergamon Press, 1984).
William S. Greaves † [+]
York University, Toronto
William S. Greaves, who died in September, 2014, was Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar, Department of English, Glendon College, York University, Toronto.
Michael James O'Donnell [+]
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
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Lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Jared P. Taglialatela [+]
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RESEARCH INTERESTS:
• The evolutionary origins of human language
• Nonhuman animal communicative behavior (esp. primate vocal and gestural
communication) and the biological substrates that mediate these behaviors
• Animal cognition and its biological basis
• The evolution of neuroanatomical asymmetries as well as their behavioral relevance
Description
This chapter reinterprets the findings of Savage-Rumbaugh et al. (1993) using the twin tools of Deacon’s referential hierarchy and Systemic Functional Linguistics, with a view to providing further corroborative evidence for a bonobo ape’s symbolic processing abilities, and as a result to open a window into the consciousness of at least one non-human primate.