ABSTRACT
Similarities and differences between humans and nonhumans in vocal communication can best be seen in the light of deep characteristics of their systems. By basing comparison on fundamental features of the systems, we acquire the ability to see more clearly the nature of connections and divergences. Superficial comparisons can, in contrast, prove confounding. Consider the opinion of Hockett and Altmann (1968):
We might note, of written English, that some words begin with the letter “A” and others do not. Do gibbon calls have this property? An affirmative answer seems to be false, a negative answer misleading rather than true. A system cannot either have or lack this property unless it has such things as words, and such things as letters, and unless one of the latter is the letter “A.” The question is meaningless because neither answer is verifiable, (pp. 61-62)
