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Title: ‘Gricean’ and ‘Ladyginian’ Communication: A Distinction in Search of a Difference

Abstract:

In a recent PNAS Perspective, Scott-Phillips and Heintz (2023) propose a new account of a key difference between the psychological foundations of great ape and human communication. They argue that while humans are Gricean communicators, and so ‘language ready’, great apes are merely ‘Ladyginian’ communicators. I consider three different ways of spelling out the distinction between Gricean and Ladyginian communication that they recommend, and I argue that none of them is theoretically or empirically satisfactory. Since they fail to make any plausible distinction between Gricean and Ladyginian communication, I argue that their proposed distinction fails. A better hypothesis is that great apes are Gricean communicators, albeit ones of comparatively limited capacity.