Animal acoustic communication often takes the form of complex sequences, made up of
multiple distinct acoustic units. Apart from the well‐known example of birdsong, other …

A key challenge in the field of human language evolution is the identification of the selective
conditions that gave rise to language's generative nature. Comparative data on nonhuman …

We develop a formal semantic analysis of the alarm calls used by Campbell's monkeys in
the Tai forest (Ivory Coast) and on Tiwai island (Sierra Leone)—two sites that differ in the …

We argue that rich data gathered in experimental primatology in the last 40 years can benefit
from analytical methods used in contemporary linguistics. Focusing on the syntactic and …

In the last decade, two hypotheses, one on the evolution of animal vocal communication in
general and the other on the origins of human language, have gained ground. The first …

We provide the outline of a semantics for music. We take music cognition to be continuous
with normal auditory cognition, and thus to deliver inferences about “virtual sources” of the …

Highlights•Resolving the origins of syntax remains core to explaining our own
species.•Artificial grammar studies have been constructive, but limited in ecological …

Upon encountering predators, many animals produce specific vocalisations that alert others
and sometimes dissuade the predators from hunting. Callicebus monkeys are known for …

Contemporary formal semantics was born from the project to treat natural languages as
formal languages, not just in their syntactic component (as generative syntax had done), but …

Compared to humans, non-human primates have very little control over their vocal
production. Nonetheless, some primates produce various call combinations, which may …