Pragmatics Reading Group - Bart Geurts

Speaker: Bart Geurts

Title: Evolutionary pragmatics: from chimp-style communication to human discourse

Abstract: One of the most distinctive features of social interaction in our species is that we use language to coordinate our future activities, and in many cases far ahead. Non-human primates don't do this (and perhaps they can't), as a consequence of which their interactions remain comparatively simple and short-range. I argue that the evolution of communication for coordination into the future was enabled by two developments: an increase of interactivity during the communicative exchange and the emergence of normative behaviours in the follow-up. Interactivity was required to coordinate future interactions, but wasn't enough for coordinating interactions beyond the immediate future, which required normativity, to boot.

The talk will take place online on Zoom - a link will be sent out nearer the time. 

For further information and future updates on the seminars, go to the Pragmatics Reading Group web page: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/research/linguistics/linguistics-events/pragmatics-reading-group