ABSTRACT
Even a cursory look at the literature on animal communication reveals that, on a dominant view, the theoretical task of explaining the evolution of linguistic meaning is to be understood in Gricean terms. After raising some difficulties for the Gricean approach to the emergence of meaning, this chapter aims to discuss an alternative conception of the explanatory task, which focuses on the potential of non-Gricean, expressive communication for illuminating the origins of meaning. This conception not only seems ethologically plausible and philosophically cogent, but it also renders the puzzle of language evolution more tractable by treating meaningfulness as a multifaceted phenomenon with potentially divergent evolutionary roots. The communicative work of expressive communication is done through the spontaneous production of signals that are designed to manifest or reveal complex states of mind of producers, and to elicit appropriate, active responses on the part of receivers. The relevant communicative intentions can rely on non-arbitrary "natural meaning," or on iconic relations.
