Meaning in animal and human communication

Scott-Phillips, T.

doi:10.1007/s10071-015-0845-5

Meaning in animal and human communication

Scott-Phillips, T.

Authors

T. Scott-Phillips

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.