Objective
In 1871 Darwin famously wrote that, in his opinion, there was no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties. In the past decades this claim has driven much empirical research and, by and large, the evidence supports Darwin’s hypothesis. One mental faculty, however, has been particularly difficult to study empirically, with little progress made until recently: the faculty of language. Non-human primates notoriously do not speak, and are unable to acquire speech even with substantial training efforts. Yet speech is only one manifestation of human language, a complex behaviour based on a number of fundamental processes: coding, inference, and assessments of common ground. This is a proposal to investigate the biological origins of these processes in the different modalities of non-human primate communication and the underlying social cognition. Although primates have little control over their articulators, they are able to encode information using discrete and graded signals, sometimes composed into more complex sequences. The first line of investigation concerns the flexibility of primate signal production, both at the unit and sequence level, in the visual and vocal domain. The second line deals with the question of semantic content, that is, what types of meaning receivers can extract from signals and sequences, and how they integrate signal structure and sequential composition with pragmatic context and signaller intention. The third line of enquiry is to study the biological origins of common ground, including audience awareness and cooperative motivation during acts of communication. Primate social cognition and communication are intimately intertwined, and the overall aim of this project is to empirically elucidate this crucial intersection to provide a deeper understanding of the primate origins of the human language faculty.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities languages and literature general language studies
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy primatology
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2011-StG_20101124
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
2000 NEUCHATEL
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.