A quick reminder that this Wednesday (7 April), Dr Stuart Watson (University of Zurich) will be giving a seminar entitled "From meaningful meerkats to pattern-processing primates: cross-species insights to the problem of language evolution". 

Abstract: Language is a uniquely powerful, and uniquely human, means of communication. However, the narrow historical window of language we have access to makes determining the ‘whens’, ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of its origins challenging. A broad, cross-species comparative approach is necessary to identify precisely which features of language are indeed unique, and which are shared with our animal cousins, thereby shedding light on their evolutionary history. Towards this end, here I will present findings from two recent studies investigating: (a) the underlying ‘meaning’ of the functionally referential alarm calls in wild meerkats using a 'model predator' experiment and (b) the shared capacity to process syntax-like acoustic structures in monkeys, apes and humans using an ’artificial grammar' experiment.