Conceptual primes in human languages and their analogues in animal communication and cognition

Abstract

Can animals think? How does the cognition of humans differ from that of (other) primates and how does the cognition of primates differ from that of other animals?This paper argues that to explore questions of this kind fruitfully we need a unified conceptual framework within which the cognition of humans and animals could be jointly considered and compared in clear and precise terms. The paper draws attention to the conceptual issues involved in current socio-biological debates and shows that these debates can be clarified by the use of the "natural semantic metalanguage" ("NSM") developed by the author and colleagues for the investigation and description of meaning.The central idea of the "NSM" theory of language and thought, supported by extensive empirical investigations by a number of researchers, is that despite their enormous diversity, all natural languages share a common core: a small vocabulary of 60 or so "conceptual primes" and a "universal grammar" (the combinatory properties of the primes).The universal conceptual primes and their combinatory properties identified in NSM research are analogous to the chemical elements and their basic combinatorial properties which opened new vistas for Chemistry. This paper shows that the NSM, which has already proved its potential in the study of languages and cultures, can also be an effective tool for exploring communication and cognition of primates and that it offers new perspectives on language acquisition, non-verbal communication, and evolutionary psychology.