ABSTRACT
Some theorists have argued that the evolutionary development of human language lies buried with our hominid ancestors and that the search for precursors of language in nonhuman animals is misguided (Pinker 1994). This view is supported by a common conception of animal communication according to which signal production is an involuntary manifestation of emotional arousal, so that signals convey no independent information about referents external to the signaller. In contrast, human language is thought to be under voluntary control and capable of referring to objects regardless of the emotional state of the speaker.
