Dessalles:
"We have observed that language is closely associated with the granting
of status, in that relevant speakers are granted it by hearers, unlike those
who have little of interest to say. As this mode of freely given status is
not material, its tangible consequences must manifest themselves in the
behaviour of individuals. My idea is that this granting of status is the very
process whereby the choice of coalition partners is made. In other words,
individuals try to ally themselves with others to whom they grant status.
In particular, they try to ally themselves with the individuals who are most
relevant. And conversely, the fact that some individuals attract others for
that same reason makes their status visible within the coalition. This is
why there is little chance that large coalitions, unlike friendships among a
small number of individuals, will be egalitarian. Members of a coalition
have come together because the esteem of all is focused on a small number
of them, or possibly on just one. This is an inevitable development,
a product of the dynamics of status-granting. If some individuals have a
quality which earns them status from their fellows and if status serves as
the basis for forming coalitions, then these individuals will function as
centres of attraction and a coalition will form about them. Let us simplify
things by calling these central individuals ‘leaders’, though the word is
reductive of the reality that we want it to refer to. The behaviour that
consists of granting status to individuals and trying to ally oneself with
them on that basis is bound to give rise, once alliances grow beyond
a certain size, to the forming of coalitions centred on leaders.
The choice of the word ‘leader’ is deliberate. In any coalition of a certain
size, over five or six members, say, decisions affecting the collective
membership are rarely emergent, unlike what happens in shoals of fish
or flocks of starlings. Some members exert more influence than others on
collective actions. The fact is that, in human groupings, the preponderant
ones are those who have had status conferred upon them by the estimation of the others. In short, human beings grant status to each other in
accordance with a gradual criterion, which we can call criterion C. They
tend accordingly to join coalitions of individuals who show a high value
for criterion C. The positions occupied by members of such coalitions are
leadership positions, with influence over collective decision making. The
larger the coalition, the greater the influence. This brings us to a consideration of what it was that made the ability to be relevant appropriate for
playing the part of criterion C."
"Can a criterion which decides whether people will become allies and grant esteem to each other be indifferent? It might seem that any criterion, as long as it is a shared one, could lead to an integrated system of coalitions that are more or less manipulated by individuals who emerge as pre-eminent. This, however, overlooks the fact that a coalition has a purpose, the most typical of which, for primates, is to provide its members with protection against other coalitions and a measure of success in dealing with them. So the choice of one criterion rather than another is hardly a matter of no consequence. If members choose and grant status to each other according to criterion C, then the leaders of the coalition are among the best according to C. What becomes of the coalition is determined by the behaviour of these leading members. If members choose and grant status to each other according to the pigmentation of their hair, the future well-being of the coalition lies in the hands of the ones with the darkest hair. If members choose and grant status to each other according to their ability to speak relevantly, then it will be the ones who appear to be the most relevant who will have the greatest say in the coalition’s destiny."
"[My] is that the ability to be relevant in conversation is ... a ‘good’ criterion of selection among members of coalitions."
"What relevant speakers contrive to show is that they are able to get information, or to find out where it is, sooner than others. In the hypothesis expounded ... this property was present as early as the prelanguage and protolanguage used by hominids. By drawing the attention of their fellows to salient situations, our ancestors were able to show that they were better than others at observing their environment, including their social environment, and getting from it what might be biologically relevant. It makes sense to assume that these individuals had more chance than others to influence the well-being of the coalitions they belonged to. If this was the case, a profitable strategy for all individuals was to join up with those who were able to show through language their ability to get relevant information from their physical and social environment."
"(H1) Individuals who form coalitions use criteria to choose their allies; a ‘good’ criterion C, compatible with natural selection, is one whose effects are positively correlated with the success of the coalition.
"Can a criterion which decides whether people will become allies and grant esteem to each other be indifferent? It might seem that any criterion, as long as it is a shared one, could lead to an integrated system of coalitions that are more or less manipulated by individuals who emerge as pre-eminent. This, however, overlooks the fact that a coalition has a purpose, the most typical of which, for primates, is to provide its members with protection against other coalitions and a measure of success in dealing with them. So the choice of one criterion rather than another is hardly a matter of no consequence. If members choose and grant status to each other according to criterion C, then the leaders of the coalition are among the best according to C. What becomes of the coalition is determined by the behaviour of these leading members. If members choose and grant status to each other according to the pigmentation of their hair, the future well-being of the coalition lies in the hands of the ones with the darkest hair. If members choose and grant status to each other according to their ability to speak relevantly, then it will be the ones who appear to be the most relevant who will have the greatest say in the coalition’s destiny."
"[My] is that the ability to be relevant in conversation is ... a ‘good’ criterion of selection among members of coalitions."
"What relevant speakers contrive to show is that they are able to get information, or to find out where it is, sooner than others. In the hypothesis expounded ... this property was present as early as the prelanguage and protolanguage used by hominids. By drawing the attention of their fellows to salient situations, our ancestors were able to show that they were better than others at observing their environment, including their social environment, and getting from it what might be biologically relevant. It makes sense to assume that these individuals had more chance than others to influence the well-being of the coalitions they belonged to. If this was the case, a profitable strategy for all individuals was to join up with those who were able to show through language their ability to get relevant information from their physical and social environment."
"(H1) Individuals who form coalitions use criteria to choose their allies; a ‘good’ criterion C, compatible with natural selection, is one whose effects are positively correlated with the success of the coalition.
(H2) In most coalitions, especially when they reach a significant size,
some individuals have more influence than others on collective
decisions, being those who are the best for C and who have the
highest status inside the coalition.
(H3) Performance in conversation is a ‘good’ alliance criterion, for it demonstrates the ability of a speaker to get biologically relevant information from the environment; it is assumed that this ability is correlated with the ability to influence the coalition in the right ways."
"If language relevance is one of the ways in which we expose ourselves to the judgements of our fellow human beings, it may appear surprising that so many conversations are so unremarkable. People should only ever speak when sure of being able to make the best possible impression, instead of holding forth about this, that, and the other, as most people do. But in fact both behaviours may be profitable. Compared with other alliance strategies, language relevance occupies a special place. The cost of language is relatively low, as Zahavi points out, unlike heroism. As a consequence, most people have no hesitation in being relevant at every opportunity, the result of which is everyday language activity and its subjects of conversation which can sometimes seem, from the outside, dreadfully ordinary. There are many situations in which it is possible to be more relevant than silence. When conversation flags, a comment on the disagreeable weather may enable somebody to evince a little relevance. It may earn speakers no status, but it costs almost nothing. While it lasts, at least they have a social existence. In conversation that is less ordinary, relevant individuals gain the esteem of their fellows. What they say plays a large part in the construction of their personality in the minds of their interlocutors. All that said, whether conversations turn on trivial or vital subjects, what participants say is always governed by the strict laws of conversational relevance and it is this that can earn status for speakers."
"Human beings like to be spoken about; if need be, they will even do it themselves. Speaking offers thus the possibility not just of being noticed for our ability to be relevant but also, when possible, of showing by the content of what we say that we are a rather extraordinary person in some way or other. The fact that language is used like that by many people, perhaps even by everybody, cannot serve as a justification for its biological existence. If the esteem of others could be won merely by boasting, then the best strategy for hearers would be to turn deaf and the best for speakers would be to produce exaggerated and repetitive messages so as to overcome the deafness. That would be the type of communication to be expected from a system functioning along the lines defined by Krebs and Dawkins, of which advertising is a fine example. Human language does undoubtedly contain features akin to advertising, as seen in the efforts every person will make, when circumstances are favourable, to appear in the best light. None the less, it is not the speaker but the hearer who is in control of language exchanges, as they have developed out of our biological constitution. Hearers, to grant status, judge especially the relevance of what is said. Admittedly, clever speakers can take advantage of their own scope for manoeuvre to choose the content of what they say so as to show themselves off. But they must still function within the tight constraints of relevance. People whose talk about themselves too obviously trangresses accepted boundaries of pertinence in informationgiving or argumentation run the risk of displaying their self-infatuation. Whatever status we may enjoy from our closest associates is not of our own professing; it must be earned. And it can only be earned if we play by the rules laid down by the biological organization of our species. The getting of status and existing within the different coalitions to which we may wish to belong can only be achieved, not by showing off, but by showing that we possess one very particular faculty: the ability to be relevant. Whenever the occasion arises, in other words dozens of times a day, we go through the ritual of displaying for other people’s judgement our ability to give them a relevant message made of ordered thoughts."
"The behaviours underlying conversation obey unconscious mechanisms. Speakers drawing attention to salient situations, hearers trying to trivialize them, others expressing doubts about the internal consistency of what they are hearing are all behaving instinctively. Reflex is what governs these actions. We exercise a degree of conscious control over the content of our utterances; but we find it difficult to resist the urge to speak. We cannot help trivializing what is presented as unlikely or questioning what appears strange. Human beings start to speak as soon as they meet someone. The cocktail-party effect, everybody trying to out-talk the noise of neighbouring conversations, and the din this creates, show how systematic language behaviour is and how deeply rooted it is in our biology. At stake in these conversations is something of vital importance to each of the speakers: who is going to have a close relationship with whom, who will rise in the estimation of others, who will gain the benefits and the influence that come with status. What we are unconsciously exercising in our conversations is a part of our biological programming. Behind the immediate stimulus of exchanging relevant information, what we are doing is assessing others’ ability to decide what is good for the set of people who will choose to ally with them. Language can thus be seen more as a means than as an end. Just as phonology makes for the construction of an extended lexicon, so our use of language makes for the construction of coalitions."
"The hypothesis argued in this chapter sees the function of language as lying outside language. When we spend our time exchanging information, it is not for the intrinsic value of the information. The information may of course be useful, even of vital importance to a hearer. But whatever usefulness there may be in the information exchanged, it is never systematic; nor can it be the biological reason for the emergence of language. Speakers are eager to bring gifts of information because they have something to gain from them. Human beings turn into interlocutors for a fifth of their waking lives because they are in a game which, when played under nature’s conditions, is essential to their survival and procreation. The aim of the game is to discover whom to choose as allies and to determine who will influence collective decisions. It is a game which differs from the other one, the game of natural selection, because the winners are not the only ones who get to propagate their difference. In the coalition game, any players who try to keep all the status for themselves, rather than grant it to others, may end up paying dearly for it. It is better to stand second in a coalition that wins than first in one that loses."
(H3) Performance in conversation is a ‘good’ alliance criterion, for it demonstrates the ability of a speaker to get biologically relevant information from the environment; it is assumed that this ability is correlated with the ability to influence the coalition in the right ways."
"If language relevance is one of the ways in which we expose ourselves to the judgements of our fellow human beings, it may appear surprising that so many conversations are so unremarkable. People should only ever speak when sure of being able to make the best possible impression, instead of holding forth about this, that, and the other, as most people do. But in fact both behaviours may be profitable. Compared with other alliance strategies, language relevance occupies a special place. The cost of language is relatively low, as Zahavi points out, unlike heroism. As a consequence, most people have no hesitation in being relevant at every opportunity, the result of which is everyday language activity and its subjects of conversation which can sometimes seem, from the outside, dreadfully ordinary. There are many situations in which it is possible to be more relevant than silence. When conversation flags, a comment on the disagreeable weather may enable somebody to evince a little relevance. It may earn speakers no status, but it costs almost nothing. While it lasts, at least they have a social existence. In conversation that is less ordinary, relevant individuals gain the esteem of their fellows. What they say plays a large part in the construction of their personality in the minds of their interlocutors. All that said, whether conversations turn on trivial or vital subjects, what participants say is always governed by the strict laws of conversational relevance and it is this that can earn status for speakers."
"Human beings like to be spoken about; if need be, they will even do it themselves. Speaking offers thus the possibility not just of being noticed for our ability to be relevant but also, when possible, of showing by the content of what we say that we are a rather extraordinary person in some way or other. The fact that language is used like that by many people, perhaps even by everybody, cannot serve as a justification for its biological existence. If the esteem of others could be won merely by boasting, then the best strategy for hearers would be to turn deaf and the best for speakers would be to produce exaggerated and repetitive messages so as to overcome the deafness. That would be the type of communication to be expected from a system functioning along the lines defined by Krebs and Dawkins, of which advertising is a fine example. Human language does undoubtedly contain features akin to advertising, as seen in the efforts every person will make, when circumstances are favourable, to appear in the best light. None the less, it is not the speaker but the hearer who is in control of language exchanges, as they have developed out of our biological constitution. Hearers, to grant status, judge especially the relevance of what is said. Admittedly, clever speakers can take advantage of their own scope for manoeuvre to choose the content of what they say so as to show themselves off. But they must still function within the tight constraints of relevance. People whose talk about themselves too obviously trangresses accepted boundaries of pertinence in informationgiving or argumentation run the risk of displaying their self-infatuation. Whatever status we may enjoy from our closest associates is not of our own professing; it must be earned. And it can only be earned if we play by the rules laid down by the biological organization of our species. The getting of status and existing within the different coalitions to which we may wish to belong can only be achieved, not by showing off, but by showing that we possess one very particular faculty: the ability to be relevant. Whenever the occasion arises, in other words dozens of times a day, we go through the ritual of displaying for other people’s judgement our ability to give them a relevant message made of ordered thoughts."
"The behaviours underlying conversation obey unconscious mechanisms. Speakers drawing attention to salient situations, hearers trying to trivialize them, others expressing doubts about the internal consistency of what they are hearing are all behaving instinctively. Reflex is what governs these actions. We exercise a degree of conscious control over the content of our utterances; but we find it difficult to resist the urge to speak. We cannot help trivializing what is presented as unlikely or questioning what appears strange. Human beings start to speak as soon as they meet someone. The cocktail-party effect, everybody trying to out-talk the noise of neighbouring conversations, and the din this creates, show how systematic language behaviour is and how deeply rooted it is in our biology. At stake in these conversations is something of vital importance to each of the speakers: who is going to have a close relationship with whom, who will rise in the estimation of others, who will gain the benefits and the influence that come with status. What we are unconsciously exercising in our conversations is a part of our biological programming. Behind the immediate stimulus of exchanging relevant information, what we are doing is assessing others’ ability to decide what is good for the set of people who will choose to ally with them. Language can thus be seen more as a means than as an end. Just as phonology makes for the construction of an extended lexicon, so our use of language makes for the construction of coalitions."
"The hypothesis argued in this chapter sees the function of language as lying outside language. When we spend our time exchanging information, it is not for the intrinsic value of the information. The information may of course be useful, even of vital importance to a hearer. But whatever usefulness there may be in the information exchanged, it is never systematic; nor can it be the biological reason for the emergence of language. Speakers are eager to bring gifts of information because they have something to gain from them. Human beings turn into interlocutors for a fifth of their waking lives because they are in a game which, when played under nature’s conditions, is essential to their survival and procreation. The aim of the game is to discover whom to choose as allies and to determine who will influence collective decisions. It is a game which differs from the other one, the game of natural selection, because the winners are not the only ones who get to propagate their difference. In the coalition game, any players who try to keep all the status for themselves, rather than grant it to others, may end up paying dearly for it. It is better to stand second in a coalition that wins than first in one that loses."
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