¿Morfología en monos? Discusión crítica de un supuesto proceso de afijación en monos en estado salvaje

Monkey’s morphology? A critical appraisal on a supposed morphology-like behavior. According to many ethologists, the vast majority of linguistic properties and features are not uniquely human, but do exist in nonhuman animals as well. Very recently, Ouattara, et al. (2009) have broadened the range of language properties which are supposedly shared by nonhuman organisms: they have claimed that a species of Old World monkeys is endowed with a morphology-like behavior. Our paper has two main objectives: firstly, we aim at critically discussing Ouattara’s claim by showing that the behavior shown by Campbell monkeys has nothing to do with true morphology, if morphology is rigorously considered. Secondly, and more generally, we critically analyze the strategy of attributing linguistic behaviors to animals, which has pervaded ethological studies. Key words: Campbell monkeys, morphology, syntax, language, animal communication.