Pragmatic Interpretation and Signaler Receiver Asymmetries in Animal Communication
5 Abstract: Researchers have converged on the idea that a pragmatic understanding of 6 communication can shed important light on the evolution of language. Accordingly, 7 animal communication scientists have been keen to adopt insights from pragmatics 8 research. Some authors couple their appeal to pragmatic aspects of communication with 9 the claim that there are fundamental asymmetries between signalers and receivers in non10 human animals. For example, in the case of primate vocal calls, signalers are said to 11 produce signals unintentionally and mindlessly, whereas receivers are thought to engage 12 in contextual interpretation to derive the significance of signals. We argue that claims 13 about signaler receiver asymmetries are often confused. This is partly because their 14 authors conflate two conceptions of pragmatics, which generate different accounts of the 15 explanatory target for accounts of the evolution of language. Here we distinguish these 16 conceptions, in order to help specify more precisely the proper explanatory target for 17 language evolution research. 18