baboons ability seems language-like - devil in the like

[Celso Alvarez Cáccamo]

Janina,

Sorry, I used the wrong word. I meant "suggest", yes.

But that's exactly what I thought that you suggested: that baboons DO have 
pragmatics. You wrote:

>Do you think it would make sense to suggest that --to the extent the
>empirical findings are solid-- those baboons seem to have the pragmatics
>of communication but not language in the sense we do.

I didn't use the word "metapragmatics". I said "pragmatics". Am I 
misunderstanding you?

Best,
-celso


At 13:44 28-10-2007 -0400, Janina Fenigsen wrote:
>I actually suggest (rather than argue, that would imply a more 
>thought-trough process) the opposite: that it is perhaps our metapragmatic 
>ability (if anything) that may be distinguishing us from baboons (and others).
>
>janina


>. . .
>I don't think this experiment proves that baboons have pragmatics, as
>Janina Fenigsen argues. It seems to show they have a sense of causality,
>yes, which the authors themselves mention.
>
>-celso
>Celso Alvarez Cáccamo