who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

337The fascinating fact about the TOM and questioning behavior is that childrenlearn the mystery of asking questions long before they show the development of TOM.This is fascinating, as apes are able to acquire at least some elements of TOM, whichappears around the age of four in children’s development (Astington & Gopnik,1991:12), but at the same time apes seem unable to learn questioning, which appears inchildren's development in the form of correctly pronounced question intonation muchearlier – before a child turns even one (Crystal, 1987:241, 143).Apes in their natural environment. Studies of monkeys and particularly apes intheir natural environment give us important information. It is well known that apes (andmonkeys) are skilful extractors of information from the adult members of the group whodo not donate the information (King, 1994:143). Other animals (dogs, for example) canalso easily elicit information by observing (or even sniffing) humans or animals. Thequestion is whether animals possess special communication signals to inquire aboutthe informational state of another individual (the essence of question phenomenon).According to Fossey, gorillas have a special “question bark”, which indicates verymild alarm or curiosity (Fossey, 1972; Marler, 1976:241). Mostly devoid ofcommunication context, the “question bark” cannot really be considered as questioningbehavior. It is rather a sign of curiosity. Chimpanzee vocalizations are much moreimportant for our discussion. J. Goodall describes special inquiring pant-hoots, which“...tends to rise in pitch toward the end of the series and is almost always followed by apause during which the caller listens intently and (if at a lookout position) scans thesurrounding countryside. A chimpanzee who hears another pant-hoot often responds bycalling (usually with pant-hoots, sometimes also with waa-barks and even screams); thusthe individual who initiates this question-and-answer exchange will learn both theidentity and the whereabouts of those who reply” (Goodall, 1986:134).Could this be considered questioning? In a certain sense it may seem so, as thecaller who initiates this “conversation” apparently needs to hear the voices of its ownkind to identify them and learn their whereabouts. In this context the rising of the pitchtoward the end of the series seems particularly important, as it obviously resembleshuman question intonation (also rising at the end and requiring an answer). But a closerlook suggests that inquiring pant-hoots might be in fact statements (not questions), andtheir function is to maintain audio contact within the group:(1) The reply to the inquiring pant-hoots usually is the same series ofinquiring pant-hoots, with rising intonation at the end. This kind ofresponse seems difficult to accept as an “answer to a question”. Itseems more plausible to suggest that an inquiring pant-hoot is a kind ofstatement (“Here I am!”, or “Here we are!” or even "Hey!"), ratherthan inquiring or questioning (“Who is there?”, or “Is anybodythere?”);(2) The same type of rising-at-the-endpant-hoots are also used bychimpanzees spontaneously, without any need of information andwithout expecting a response (see Goodall, 1986:134-135, section