Optionality in animal communication: a novel framework for examining the evolution of arbitrariness

Abstract

A critical feature of language is that the form of words need not bear any perceptual similarity to their function – these relationships can be ‘arbitrary’. The capacity to process these arbitrary form–function associations facilitates the enormous expressive power of language. However, the evolutionary roots of our capacity for arbitrariness, i.e. the extent to which related abilities may be shared with animals, is largely unexamined. We argue this is due to the challenges of applying such an intrinsically linguistic concept to anima Show more