Meaning in animal and human communication

Scott-Phillips, T.

Abstract

What is meaning? While traditionally the domain of philosophy and linguistics, this question, and others related to it, is critical for cognitive and comparative approaches to communication. This short essay provides a concise and accessible description of how the term meaning can and should be used, how it relates to ‘intentional communication’, and what would constitute good evidence of meaning in animal communication, in the sense that is relevant for comparisons with human language.

Citation

Scott-Phillips, T. (2015). Meaning in animal and human communication. Animal Cognition, 18(3), 801-805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-015-0845-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 26, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Feb 3, 2015
• Publication Date: May 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 11, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 13, 2015
• Journal: Animal Cognition
• Print ISSN: 1435-9448
• Electronic ISSN: 1435-9456
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 801-805
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-015-0845-5
• Keywords: Communication, Meaning, Intentionality, Language, Primates, Pragmatics.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1426901