Pergamon Language & Communication, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 115-127, 1994 Copyright 0 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0271-5309/94 $6.00 + 0.00 THE ANTHROPOMORPHIC AND THE SCEPTICAL T. J. TAYLOR This paper is an exercise in what might be called ‘the comparative rhetoric of inquiry’. The subjects of this exercise are two different, although closely related, fields of inquiry: the study of human communication and the study of nonhuman primate communication. I We may first note that much of the scientific study of nonhuman primate communication is concerned to address such questions as the following. To what extent are the systems of vocalizations and gestures made naturally by any species of nonhuman primate similar to and to what extent different from the languages used by humans? Indeed, is it correct to call any of the former systems ‘A language’? Do any nonhuman primate vocalizations or gestures refer to or name, as many human signs do, entities in the world (or in the mind)? Does any monkey or ape vocalization or gesture have a linguistic meaning, that is, in the sense in which human signs have meanings? Are any of the vocalizations or gestures produced by a nonhuman primate true (or false), that is, in the sense in which many human utterances are true (or are false)? Does a monkey or ape understand the vocalizations or gestures of its confreres, that is, in the way that we understand the utterances of our fellow language-users? Do exchanges of such vocalizations or gestures produce, as is typically the case with human linguistic exchanges, mutual understanding? Assuming that it does not do so already, can any nonhuman primate be taught (or trained) to (a) use a human language; (b) use human signs to name or refer; (c) use linguistic signs meaningfully; (d) speak truly (or falsely) of the world; or (e) participate with understanding (that is, as we understand) in meaningful linguistic exchanges? From this list it is clear that at least one of the salient characteristics of the scientific study of primate communication is an interest in comparing the communicational abilities of nonhuman primates to the communicational abilities of Homo sapiens. In other words, primate communication specialists want to determine the extent to which what monkeys and apes do is like what we do and the extent to which monkeys and apes can be taught Correspondence relating to this paper should be addressed to Professor T. J. Taylor, Department of English, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, U.S.A.