Editorial overview: Communication and language: Animal communication and human language

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. v-viii ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Brainard ◽  
W Tecumseh Fitch
Keyword(s):  
Animal Communication ◽  
Human Language

scholarly journals Bird sounds in nature writing: Human perspective on animal communication

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 580-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kadri Tüür
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Nature Writing ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Bird Song ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Human Interpretation ◽  
Object Of Study

The object of study in the present article is birds, more precisely the sounds of birds as they are represented in Estonian nature writing. The evolutionary and structural parallels of bird song with human language are reviewed. Human interpretation of bird sounds raises the question, whether it is possible to transmit or “translate” signals between the Umwelts of different species. The intentions of the sender of the signal may remain unknown, but the signification process within human Umwelt can still be traced and analysed. By approaching the excerpts of nature writing using semiotic methodology, I attempt to demonstrate how bird sounds can function as different types of signs, as outlined by Thomas A. Sebeok. It is argued that the zoosemiotic treatment of nature writing opens up a number of interesting perspectives that would otherwise remain beyond the scope of traditional literary analysis.

scholarly journals Principles of structure building in music, language and animal song

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1664) ◽  
pp. 20140097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Rohrmeier ◽  
Willem Zuidema ◽  
Geraint A. Wiggins ◽  
Constance Scharff
Keyword(s):  
Formal Language ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Language Theory ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Chomsky Hierarchy ◽  
Structure Building ◽  
Animal Vocalizations ◽  
Communicative Success ◽  
Parallel Feature

Human language, music and a variety of animal vocalizations constitute ways of sonic communication that exhibit remarkable structural complexity. While the complexities of language and possible parallels in animal communication have been discussed intensively, reflections on the complexity of music and animal song, and their comparisons, are underrepresented. In some ways, music and animal songs are more comparable to each other than to language as propositional semantics cannot be used as indicator of communicative success or wellformedness, and notions of grammaticality are less easily defined. This review brings together accounts of the principles of structure building in music and animal song. It relates them to corresponding models in formal language theory, the extended Chomsky hierarchy (CH), and their probabilistic counterparts. We further discuss common misunderstandings and shortcomings concerning the CH and suggest ways to move beyond. We discuss language, music and animal song in the context of their function and motivation and further integrate problems and issues that are less commonly addressed in the context of language, including continuous event spaces, features of sound and timbre, representation of temporality and interactions of multiple parallel feature streams. We discuss these aspects in the light of recent theoretical, cognitive, neuroscientific and modelling research in the domains of music, language and animal song.

Human uniqueness, learned symbols and recursive thought

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES R. HURFORD
Keyword(s):  
Communication System ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Theoretical Claim ◽  
Human Uniqueness

Human language is qualitatively different from animal communication systems in at least two separate ways. Human languages contain tens of thousands of arbitrary learned symbols (mainly words). No other animal communication system involves learning the component symbolic elements afresh in each individual's lifetime, and certainly not in such vast numbers. Human language also has complex compositional syntax. The meanings of our sentences are composed from the meanings of the constituent parts (e.g. the words). This is obvious to us, but no other animal communication system (with honeybees as an odd but distracting exception) puts messages together in this way. A recent theoretical claim that the sole distinguishing feature of human language is recursion is discussed, and related to these features of learned symbols and compositional syntax. It is argued that recursive thought could have existed in prelinguistic hominids, and that the key step to language was the innovative disposition to learn massive numbers of arbitrary symbols

scholarly journals Construction grammar for monkeys?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pleyer ◽  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Key Issues

Abstract In recent years, multiple researchers working on the evolution of language have put forward the idea that the theoretical framework of usage-based approaches and Construction Grammar is highly suitable for modelling the emergence of human language from pre-linguistic or proto-linguistic communication systems. This also raises the question of whether usage-based and constructionist approaches can be integrated with the analysis of animal communication systems. In this paper, we review possible avenues where usage-based, constructionist approaches can make contact with animal communication research, which in turn also has implications for theories of language evolution. To this end, we first give an overview of key assumptions of usage-based and constructionist approaches before reviewing some key issues in animal communication research through the lens of usage-based, constructionist approaches. Specifically, we will discuss how research on alarm calls, gestural communication and symbol-trained animals can be brought into contact with usage-based, constructionist theorizing. We argue that a constructionist view of animal communication can yield new perspectives on its relation to human language, which in turn has important implications regarding the evolution of language. Importantly, this theoretical approach also generates hypotheses that have the potential of complementing and extending results from the more formalist approaches that often underlie current animal communication research.

scholarly journals Recursion: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick L. Coolidge ◽  
Karenleigh A. Overmann ◽  
Thomas Wynn
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
Considerable Controversy ◽  
Key Features

Recursion is a topic of considerable controversy in linguistics, which stems from its varying definitions and its key features, such as its universality, uniqueness to human language, and evolution. Currently, there appear to be at least two common senses of recursion: (1) embeddedness of phrases within other phrases, which entails keeping track of long-distance dependencies among phrases and (2) the specification of the computed output string itself, including meta-recursion, where recursion is both the recipe for an utterance and the overarching process that creates and executes the recipes. There are also at least two evolutionary scenarios for the adaptive value of recursion in human language. The gradualist position posits precursors, such as animal communication and protolanguages, and holds that the selective purpose of recursion was for communication. The saltationist position assumes no gradual development of recursion and posits that it evolved for reasons other than communication. In the latter view, some heritable event associated with a cognitive prerequisite of language, such as Theory of Mind or working memory capacity, allowed recursive utterances. Evolutionary adaptive reasons for recursive thoughts were also proffered, including diplomatic speech, perlocutionary acts, and prospective cognitions.

scholarly journals Animal cognition and the evolution of human language: why we cannot focus solely on communication

2019 ◽  
Vol 375 (1789) ◽  
pp. 20190046 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Tecumseh Fitch
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Royal Road ◽  
Communicative Signals

Studies of animal communication are often assumed to provide the ‘royal road’ to understanding the evolution of human language. After all, language is the pre-eminent system of human communication: doesn't it make sense to search for its precursors in animal communication systems? From this viewpoint, if some characteristic feature of human language is lacking in systems of animal communication, it represents a crucial gap in evolution, and evidence for an evolutionary discontinuity. Here I argue that we should reverse this logic: because a defining feature of human language is its ability to flexibly represent and recombine concepts, precursors for many important components of language should be sought in animal cognition rather than animal communication. Animal communication systems typically only permit expression of a small subset of the concepts that can be represented and manipulated by that species. Thus, if a particular concept is not expressed in a species' communication system this is not evidence that it lacks that concept. I conclude that if we focus exclusively on communicative signals, we sell the comparative analysis of language evolution short. Therefore, animal cognition provides a crucial (and often neglected) source of evidence regarding the biology and evolution of human language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘What can animal communication teach us about human language?’

scholarly journals Brevity is not always a virtue in primate communication

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruna M. Bezerra ◽  
Antonio S. Souto ◽  
Andrew N. Radford ◽  
Gareth Jones
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Coding Efficiency ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
The Law

Semple et al . (Semple et al. in press, Biol. Lett. ( doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.1062 )) argued that the ‘law of brevity’ (an inverse relationship between word length and frequency of use) applies not only to human language but also to vocal signalling in non-human primates, because coding efficiency is paramount in both situations. We analysed the frequency of use of signals of different duration in the vocal repertoires of two Neotropical primate species studied in the wild—the common marmoset ( Callithrix jacchus ) and the golden-backed uakari ( Cacajao melanocephalus ). The key prediction of the law of brevity was not supported in either species: although the most frequently emitted calls were relatively brief, they were not the shortest signals in the repertoire. The costs and benefits associated with signals of different duration must be appreciated to understand properly their frequency of use. Although relatively brief vocal signals may be favoured by natural selection in order to minimize energetic costs, the very briefest signals may be ambiguous, contain reduced information or be difficult to detect or locate, and may therefore be selected against. Analogies between human language and vocal communication in animals can be misleading as a basis for understanding frequency of use, because coding efficiency is not the only factor of importance in animal communication, and the costs and benefits associated with different signal durations will vary in a species-specific manner.

scholarly journals What can animal communication teach us about human language?

2019 ◽  
Vol 375 (1789) ◽  
pp. 20190042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam R. Fishbein ◽  
Jonathan B. Fritz ◽  
William J. Idsardi ◽  
Gerald S. Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Research ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Theme Issue

Language has been considered by many to be uniquely human. Numerous theories for how it evolved have been proposed but rarely tested. The articles in this theme issue consider the extent to which aspects of language, such as vocal learning, phonology, syntax, semantics, intentionality, cognition and neurobiological adaptations, are shared with other animals. By adopting a comparative approach, insights into the mechanisms and origins of human language can be gained. While points of agreement exist among the authors, conflicting viewpoints are expressed on several issues, such as the presence of proto-syntax in animal communication, the neural basis of the Merge operation, and the neurogenetic changes necessary for vocal learning. Future comparative research in animal communication has the potential to teach us even more about the evolution, neurobiology and cognitive basis of human language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘What can animal communication teach us about human language?’

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