Reacción a "African elephants address each other with name-like calls, study finds African elephants address each other with name-like calls, study finds"

Although the convergence on call structure for the same individual receivers from different callers is quite interesting, inferring ‘labels’ or even ‘names’ is fanciful and the data do not permit such inferences. Hence I’d question the author’s claim that “Evidence that arbitrary vocal labelling is not unique to humans would expand the breadth of models for the evolution of language and cognition.” 

Their results might have nothing to do with language evolution. It isn’t too hard to imagine that animals learn, by associative learning, what sounds are associated with which individuals and that these could spread through socially-mediated reinforcement. This doesn’t mean that they are using a ‘label’ or a name in the sense that we humans would mean it, which is that it is a symbolic referent that ‘stands for’ the individual.    

We see the same tendency to overinterpret data in those working on cetaceans and other ‘charismatic’ species. It would be nice to check whether you could get analogous findings in social insects, like bees, and then see if everyone agrees it is relevant to cognition and language evolution.