2006 - Tuesday May, 16th, 2:30 - 4:30 pm Ecole Normale Supérieure, 45, rue d'Ulm, Paris The co-operative communication of human beings In contrast to our nearest primate relatives, human beings communicate with one another co-operatively. This co-operative structure pervades all aspects of the communicative exchange. Thus, human communication depends fundamentally on : (1) a joint attentional (or intersubjective) frame that provides the common ground necessary for reference ; (2) the mutual manifestness of the communicative act itself, which generates both relevance inferences and interpersonal obligations ; (3) the co-operative motives to help and to share experience with others (even if embedded within a selfish, deceptive motive) ; and (4) the ability to collaborate with others in joint activities, specifically to ensure that the receiver comprehends the sender's message as intended. The communicative activities of other animal species have little resembling this same co-operative structure. Human co-operative communication emanates evolutionarily from an adaptation for shared intentionality in general, as manifest in many other human cultural activities. Linguistic communication has this same co-operative structure, but adds, in addition, the perspective-taking inherent in contrastive linguistic symbols.