Hermann Ackermann, Wolfram Ziegler
Audra Ames, Sara Wielandt, Dianne Cameron, Stan Kuczaj
David Ardell, Noelle Anderson, Bodo Winter
Rie Asano, Edward Ruoyang Shi
Mark Atkinson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Andreas Baumann, Christina Prömer, Kamil Kazmierski, Nikolaus Ritt
Christian Bentz
Aleksandrs Berdicevskis, Hanne Eckhoff
Richard A. Blythe, Alistair H. Jones, Jessica Renton
Cedric Boeckx, Constantina Theofanopoulou, Antonio Benítez-Burraco
Megan Broadway, Jamie Klaus, Billie Serafin, Heidi Lyn
Jon W. Carr, Kenny Smith, Hannah Cornish, Simon Kirby
Federica Cavicchio, Livnat Leemor, Simone Shamay-Tsoory, Wendy Sandler
Zanna Clay, Jahmaira Archbold, Klaus Zuberbuhler
Katie Collier, Andrew N. Radford, Balthasar Bickel, Marta B. Manser, Simon W. Townsend
Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby, Marieke Schouwstra
Christine Cuskley, Vittorio Loreto
Christine Cuskley, Bernardo Monechi, Pietro Gravino, Vittorio Loreto
Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Sabrina Engesser, Amanda R. Ridley, Simon W. Townsend
Dankmar Enke, Roland Mühlenbernd, Igor Yanovich
Kerem Eryilmaz, Hannah Little, Bart de Boer
Nicolas Fay, Shane Rogers
Maryia Fedzechkina, Becky Chu, T. Florian Jaeger, John Trueswell
Olga Feher, Kenny Smith, Elizabeth Wonnacott, Nikolaus Ritt
Piera Filippi, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Daniel Liu Bowling, Larissa Heege, Albert Newen, Onur Güntürkün, Bart de Boer
Piera Filippi, Jenna V. Congdon, John Hoang, Daniel Liu Bowling, Stephan Reber, Andrius Pašukonis, Marisa Hoeschele, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Bart de Boer, Christopher B. Sturdy, Albert Newen, Onur GÜntÜrkÜn
Molly Flaherty, Katelyn Stangl, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Marlen Fröhlich, Paul H Kuchenbuch, Gudrun Müller, Barbara Fruth, Takeshi Furuichi, Roman M Wittig, Simone Pika
Victor Gay, Daniel Hicks, Estefania Santacreu-Vasut
Andreea Geambasu, Michelle J. Spierings, Carel ten Cate, Clara C. Levelt
Matt Hall, Russell Richie, Marie Coppola
Stefan Hartmann, Peeter Tinits, Jonas Nölle, Thomas Hartmann, Michael Pleyer
Wolfram Hinzen, Joana Rosselló
Rick Janssen, Bodo Winter, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik, Sean Roberts
Rick Janssen, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Jasmeen Kanwal, Kenny Smith, Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby
Deborah Kerr, Kenny Smith
Buddhamas Kriengwatana, Paola Escudero, Anne Kerkhoven, Carel ten Cate
Adriano Lameira, Jeremy Kendal, Marco Gamba
Molly Lewis, Michael C. Frank
Casey Lister, Tiarn Burtenshaw, Nicolas Fay, Bradley Walker, Jeneva Ohan
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Giuseppe Longobardi, Armin Buch, Andrea Ceolin, Aaron Ecay, Cristina Guardiano, Monica Irimia, Dimitris Michelioudakis, Nina Radkevich, Gerhard Jaeger
Heidi Lyn, Stephanie Jett, Megan Broadway, Mystera Samuelson
Michael Mcloughlin, Luca Lamoni, Ellen Garland, Simon Ingram, Alexis Kirke, Michael Noad, Luke Rendell, Eduardo Miranda
Adrien Meguerditchian, Damien Marie, Konstantina Margiotoudi, Scott A. Love, Alice Bertello, Romain Lacoste, Muriel Roth, Bruno Nazarian, Jean-Luc Anton, Olivier Coulon
Jérôme Michaud
Ashley Micklos
Marie Montant, Johannes Ziegler, Benny Briesemeister, Tila Brink, Bruno Wicker, Aurélie Ponz, Mireille Bonnard, Arthur Jacobs, Mario Braun
Yasamin Motamedi, Marieke Schouwstra, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Roland Mühlenbernd, Johannes Wahle
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya
Savithry Namboodiripad, Daniel Lenzen, Ryan Lepic, Tessa Verhoef
Alan Nielsen, Dieuwke Hupkes, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Bill Noble, Raquel Fernández
Irene M. Pepperberg, Katia Zilber-Izhar, Scott Smith
Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan, Bodo Winter, Dominic Massaro
Ljiljana Progovac
Andrea Ravignani, Tania Delgado, Simon Kirby
Terry Regier, Alexandra Carstensen, Charles Kemp
Lilia Rissman, Laura Horton, Molly Flaherty, Marie Coppola, Annie Senghas, Diane Brentari, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Gareth Roberts, Mariya Fedzechkina
Carmen Saldana, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Carlos Santana
William Schueller, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Catriona Silvey, Christos Christodoulopoulos
Katie Slocombe, Stuart Watson, Anne Schel, Claudia Wilke, Emma Wallace, Leveda Cheng, Victoria West, Simon Townsend
Ruth Sonnweber, Andrea Ravignani
Michelle Spierings, Carel ten Cate
Kevin Stadler, Elyse Jamieson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Monica Tamariz, Joleana Shurley
Monica Tamariz, Jon W. Carr
Bill Thompson, Heikki Rasilo
Oksana Tkachman, Carla L. Hudson Kam
Simon Townsend, Andrew Russell, Sabrina Engesser
Francesca Tria, Vittorio Loreto, Vito Servedio, S. Mufwene Salikoko
Anu Vastenius, Jordan Zlatev, Joost Van de Weijer
Tessa Verhoef, Carol Padden, Simon Kirby
Slawomir Wacewicz, Przemyslaw Zywiczynski, Arkadiusz Jasinski
Bodo Winter, David Ardell
Bodo Winter, Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan
Marieke Woensdregt, Kenny Smith, Chris Cummins, Simon Kirby
Eva Zehentner, Andreas Baumann, Nikolaus Ritt, Christina Prömer
Keywords: animal communication, call combinations, syntax, compositionality, language evolution
Abstract:
A defining feature of language is its generative nature, but elucidating how this capacity evolved is a non-trivial task (Christiansen & Kirby, 2003). Language derives its expressive power from its combinatorial nature: meaningless acoustic elements are phonologically combined into meaningful words, which at a higher syntactic layer can be assembled into phrases, where the meaning of the whole is a product of its parts (Hockett, 1960). While recent work on birds has provided evidence for the phonological level (Engesser et al., 2015; Lachlan & Nowicki, 2015), evidence for basic compositional syntax outside of humans is less clear (Arnold & Zuberbühler, 2008; Hurford, 2011; Ouattara et al., 2009). In particular, experimental data demonstrating a compositional understanding of information are rare (Collier et al., 2014). Here we provide strong evidence for compositionality in the discrete vocal system of the cooperatively breeding pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor). Natural observations revealed pied babblers produce acoustically distinct alert-calls in response to close, low urgency threats, and recruitment calls when recruiting group members during locomotion. Upon encountering terrestrial predators, both vocalizations are combined into a sequence (hereafter ‘mobbing-sequence’), potentially to recruit group members in a dangerous situation. To investigate whether babblers process these mobbing-sequences in a compositional way, we conducted systematic playback manipulations, playing back the individual calls in isolation, as well as naturally occurring and artificial sequences. Our results show babbler groups reacted most strongly to mobbing-sequence playbacks, showing a greater attentiveness and a quicker approach to the sound source, compared to individual calls or control sequences. We conclude pied babbler mobbing-sequences communicate information on both the context and the requested action, with receivers computing the combination of the two, functionally distinct, calls in a compositional way. Given the babblers’ constrained vocal repertoire, paired with the extensive number of social and ecological contexts that require communication (Ridley & Raihani, 2007), such compositional production and processing of vocalizations is likely adaptive for pied babblers, allowing them to coordinate key additional events than would otherwise be possible with a non-syntactic system (Arnold & Zuberbühler, 2008). Ultimately, our work indicates that the ability to combine and process meaningful vocal structures, a basic syntax, may be more widespread than previously thought.
Arnold, K., & Zuberbühler, K. (2008). Meaningful call combinations in a non-human primate. Current Biology, 18, R202-R203.
Christiansen, M. H., & Kirby, S. (2003). Language evolution: consensus and controversies. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 300-307.
Collier, K., Bickel, B., van Schaik, C. P., Manser, M. B., & Townsend, S. W. (2014). Language evolution: syntax before phonology? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281, 20140263.
Engesser, S., Crane, J. M., Savage, J. L., Russell, A. F., & Townsend, S. W. (2015). Experimental Evidence for Phonemic Contrasts in a Nonhuman Vocal System. PloS Biology, 13, e1002171.
Hockett, C. F. (1960). The Origin of Speech. Scientific American, 203, 88-111.
Hurford, J. (2011). The origins of grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lachlan, R. F., & Nowicki, S. (2015). Context-dependent categorical perception in a songbird. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112, 201410844.
Ouattara, K., Lemasson, A., & Zuberbühler, K. (2009). Campbell's Monkeys Use Affixation to Alter Call Meaning. PLoS ONE, 4, e7808.
Ridley, A. R., & Raihani, N. J. (2007). Variable postfledging care in a cooperative bird: causes and consequences. Behavioral Ecology, 18, 994-1000.
Citation:
Engesser S., Ridley A. R. and Townsend S. W. (2016). Meaningful Call Combinations And Compositional Processing In A Social Bird. In S.G. Roberts, C. Cuskley, L. McCrohon, L. Barceló-Coblijn, O. Fehér & T. Verhoef (eds.) The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference (EVOLANG11). Available online: http://evolang.org/neworleans/papers/3.html