Pointing (humans, dogs and chimpanzee)

In why we speak and chimpanzees don’t, the argument goes that pointing and human language are related. In both cases, “a human is trying to communicate with another on the basis that the sign can be understood because of their common knowledge.”

If you don’t have the mental machinery to get the intention behind pointing, you probably won’t get language (is one way to think of it).

[…] chimps are not aware of another’s intention to communicate in pointing.

I find that surprising. Especially as:

They can keep track of the goals and intentions of others rather nicely, like understanding that an outstretched arm means an intention to grab the object in front of it. But it seems that they just can’t wrap their heads around the fact that another individual is intentionally trying to grab their attention to focus on the same thing together […]

It’s a fascinating connection to make. Perhaps pointing is a marker of a capability for a rich language.

Of course, just getting pointing doesn’t mean you’ll get language. Dogs are “very skilful in using the pointing gesture to find a reward” (Kaminski & Nitzschner, 2013, Do dogs get the point? A review of dog–human communication ability, Learning and Motivation). 

It’s all complicated.