In a recent attempt to naturalise core features of phonological theory, Samuels (2015: 161) writes that the success of any biological approach to language is measured ‘in terms of how much contact the study of language is able to make with the other cognitive sciences and other areas of biology more generally, and to what extent various components of language and the mind are more deeply understood as a result’. By making novel linking hypotheses between the formal study of semantics, pragmatics and monkey call systems, Schlenker et al. succeed on all counts. Given the apparent ability to formalise the semantics of nonhuman primate calls and explain their functionality in terms of general, universal pragmatic principles, a number of avenues open up regarding how to theorise about the evolution and implementation of such systems. In this commentary, I will focus my attention on questions (i), (ii) and (v) of Schlenker et al.’s article; namely, the syntax, semantics and evolution of monkey call systems. Exploring the implementation of call comprehension in the primate brain not only has the potential to fruitfully employ pre-existing theoretical tools (as with formal monkey semantics), but could also generate insights into the evolutionary questions briefly discussed by Schlenker et al. Given the extraordinarily preserved nature of mammalian brain rhythms (Buszaki et al. 2013) and recent attempts to establish connecting hypotheses between them and language comprehension (Murphy 2015c), along with the similar structure of a number of primate calls, in what follows emerging models of neural oscillations will be used as a device to explore the similarly preserved structure of primate call systems. Schlenker et al.’s Evolutionary Monkey Linguistics will be discussed alongside a model of ‘Evolutionary Monkey Oscillomics’, using neural dynamics as a way of exploring the structure and development of primate call systems.

中文翻译：

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进化猴振荡：从保存的脑节律中产生联系假设

在最近尝试归化语音理论核心特征的过程中，塞缪尔（Samuels（2015：161）写道，任何生物学方法对语言的成功都取决于对语言研究与其他认知科学的联系程度。以及生物学的其他领域，从而在多大程度上更深入地理解语言和思维的各个组成部分。Schlenker等人通过在语义学，语用学和猴子呼叫系统的形式研究之间提出新颖的假设。在所有方面都取得成功。鉴于有能力将非人类的灵长类动物的调用形式化，并根据通用的，普遍的，实用的原则来解释其功能，关于如何对此类系统的演化和实现进行理论化的方法开辟了许多途径。在这篇评论中 我将专注于Schlenker等人文章的问题（i），（ii）和（v）；即猴子呼叫系统的语法，语义和演变。探索在灵长类动物大脑中实现理解理解的能力不仅有可能有效地利用先前存在的理论工具（如形式化的猴子语义学），而且还可以产生对Schlenker等人简要讨论的进化问题的见解。鉴于哺乳动物脑节律的异常保留（Buszaki等，2013），以及最近在它们之间建立联系假设和语言理解的尝试（Murphy，2015c），以及许多灵长类动物的相似结构，接下来，新兴的神经振荡模型将被用作探索灵长类动物呼叫系统的类似保存结构的一种装置。Schlenker等人的“进化猴子语言学”将与“进化猴子震颤学”模型一起讨论，使用神经动力学作为探索灵长类动物呼叫系统结构和发展的一种方式。