First, we will note the increasing interest in gestural communication of our closest living primate relatives in the framework of the proposed close link between action and language in humans. Second, having established the connection between actions and gestures, we will turn our attention to the role that gestures may have played in language evolution. We will begin by defining gestures, briefly presenting some of the features of the apes' gestural repertoires and discussing three ways in which individuals can acquire gestures. To this end, we will present the latest advances in ape gestural communication, including some of the controversies in the field. First, we will explore the question of how actions are transformed into gestures both from a phylogenetic and an ontogenetic perspective.
Comparing the communicative repertoires of monkeys and apes with those of humans can play a crucial role in the quest for the roots of human language, and more specifically in the role that gestures might have played in the evolution of language. In both cases, however, one can find clues that inform us about their origin. Moreover, just like fins and legs, this change took place over evolutionary time, but in the case of gestures, it can also take place during the lifetime of one individual. A central thesis of this contribution is that many of the gestures displayed by apes began their existence as actions devoid of a communicative function, but over time they became co-opted and transformed into communicative devices that accomplished similar functions. The relation that exists between gesture and action is in some ways analogous to the relation that exists between fins and legs or between noses and blowholes. Complex structures such as legs and snouts can be transmuted over time into equally complex and functionally equivalent structures such as fins and blowholes, respectively.
This remarkable transformation teaches us an important lesson. Over the last 50 million years, dolphins have been evolving into what they are today. The terrestrial ancestor of dolphins was a hippopotamus-like creature that walked on all fours and lacked the stylized forms, and presumably the elegant movements, of its marine descendant. However, before dolphins became what they are today, they underwent a remarkable transformation. Dolphins are one of the most gracile and elegant creatures of the sea.
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