scholarly journals Acoustic cues to individuality in wild male adult African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana)

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10736
Author(s):  
Kaja Wierucka ◽  
Michelle D. Henley ◽  
Hannah S. Mumby
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Individual Recognition ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Loxodonta Africana ◽  
Mature Male ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Male Adult

The ability to recognize conspecifics plays a pivotal role in animal communication systems. It is especially important for establishing and maintaining associations among individuals of social, long-lived species, such as elephants. While research on female elephant sociality and communication is prevalent, until recently male elephants have been considered far less social than females. This resulted in a dearth of information about their communication and recognition abilities. With new knowledge about the intricacies of the male elephant social structure come questions regarding the communication basis that allows for social bonds to be established and maintained. By analyzing the acoustic parameters of social rumbles recorded over 1.5 years from wild, mature, male African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) we expand current knowledge about the information encoded within these vocalizations and their potential to facilitate individual recognition. We showed that social rumbles are individually distinct and stable over time and therefore provide an acoustic basis for individual recognition. Furthermore, our results revealed that different frequency parameters contribute to individual differences of these vocalizations.

scholarly journals Animal Communication and Human Language: An overview

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Barón Birchenall
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Research ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Current State ◽  
Phylogenetic Evolution ◽  
Main Component

Comparative research has proven to be a fruitful field of study on the ontogenetic and phylogenetic evolution of language, and on the cognitive capacities unique to humans or shared with other animals. The degree of continuity between components of human language and non-human animal communication systems, as well as the existence of a core factor of language, are polemic subjects at present. In this article, we offer an overview of the research on animal communication, comparing the resulting data with the current knowledge on human language development. We try to summarize what is currently known about “language abilities” in multiple animals, and compare those facts to what is known about human language. The aim of the article is to provide an introduction to this particular topic, presenting the different sides of the arguments when possible. A special reference is made to the question of syntactic recursion as the main component of language, allegedly absent among non-human animals. We conclude that the current state of knowledge supports the existence of a certain degree of continuity between different aspects of animal communication and human language, including the syntactic domain.

scholarly journals Vocal plasticity in a reptile

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1855) ◽  
pp. 20170451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Brumm ◽  
Sue Anne Zollinger
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
High Amplitude ◽  
Vocal Plasticity ◽  
Lombard Effect ◽  
Gekko Gecko ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Signalling Systems

Sophisticated vocal communication systems of birds and mammals, including human speech, are characterized by a high degree of plasticity in which signals are individually adjusted in response to changes in the environment. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first evidence for vocal plasticity in a reptile. Like birds and mammals, tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ) increased the duration of brief call notes in the presence of broadcast noise compared to quiet conditions, a behaviour that facilitates signal detection by receivers. By contrast, they did not adjust the amplitudes of their call syllables in noise (the Lombard effect), which is in line with the hypothesis that the Lombard effect has evolved independently in birds and mammals. However, the geckos used a different strategy to increase signal-to-noise ratios: instead of increasing the amplitude of a given call type when exposed to noise, the subjects produced more high-amplitude syllable types from their repertoire. Our findings demonstrate that reptile vocalizations are much more flexible than previously thought, including elaborate vocal plasticity that is also important for the complex signalling systems of birds and mammals. We suggest that signal detection constraints are one of the major forces driving the evolution of animal communication systems across different taxa.

scholarly journals Initial laryngeal neutralisation in Tyrolean

Phonology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Vietti ◽  
Birgit Alber ◽  
Barbara Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Closure Duration

In the Southern Bavarian variety of Tyrolean, laryngeal contrasts undergo a typologically interesting process of neutralisation in word-initial position. We undertake an acoustic analysis of Tyrolean stops in word-initial, word-medial intersonorant and word-final contexts, as well as in obstruent clusters, investigating the role of the acoustic parameters VOT, prevoicing, closure duration and F0 and H1–H2* on following vowels in implementing contrast, if any. Results show that stops contrast word-medially via [voice] (supported by the acoustic cues of closure duration and F0), and are neutralised completely in word-final position and in obstruent clusters. Word-initially, neutralisation is subject to inter- and intraspeaker variability, and is sensitive to place of articulation. Aspiration plays no role in implementing laryngeal contrasts in Tyrolean.

scholarly journals Developmental plasticity and the origin of novel communication systems: Individual recognition inPolisteswasps*

Evolution ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 2728-2735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Tibbetts ◽  
Sohini Pandit ◽  
Daniel Nondorf
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Individual Recognition

scholarly journals Multimodal signalling in the North American barn swallow: a phenotype network approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1816) ◽  
pp. 20151574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Wilkins ◽  
Daizaburo Shizuka ◽  
Maxwell B. Joseph ◽  
Joanna K. Hubbard ◽  
Rebecca J. Safran
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
North American ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Complex Signal ◽  
Network Approach ◽  
Barn Swallow ◽  
Complex Signals ◽  
The North ◽  
Phenotype Network

Complex signals, involving multiple components within and across modalities, are common in animal communication. However, decomposing complex signals into traits and their interactions remains a fundamental challenge for studies of phenotype evolution. We apply a novel phenotype network approach for studying complex signal evolution in the North American barn swallow ( Hirundo rustica erythrogaster ). We integrate model testing with correlation-based phenotype networks to infer the contributions of female mate choice and male–male competition to the evolution of barn swallow communication. Overall, the best predictors of mate choice were distinct from those for competition, while moderate functional overlap suggests males and females use some of the same traits to assess potential mates and rivals. We interpret model results in the context of a network of traits, and suggest this approach allows researchers a more nuanced view of trait clustering patterns that informs new hypotheses about the evolution of communication systems.

A comparison of two information theory approaches to animal communication systems

2001 ◽  
Vol 109 (5) ◽  
pp. 2429-2429
Author(s):  
Laurance R. Doyle ◽  
Jon M. Jenkins ◽  
Sean F. Hanser ◽  
Brenda McCowan
Keyword(s):  
Information Theory ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication

Patterns of evolution in human speech processing and animal communication

1998 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-283
Author(s):  
Michael J. Ryan ◽  
Nicole M. Kime ◽  
Gil G. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Low Noise ◽  
Communication Signals ◽  
Human Speech ◽  
Strong Selection ◽  
Processing Data ◽  
Receiver System

We consider Sussman et al.'s suggestion that auditory biases for processing low-noise relationships among pairs of acoustic variables is a preadaptation for human speech processing. Data from other animal communication systems, especially those involving sexual selection, also suggest that neural biases in the receiver system can generate strong selection on the form of communication signals.

Note types and coding in parid vocalizations. I: The chick-a-dee call of the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 769-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Charrier ◽  
Laurie L Bloomfield ◽  
Christopher B Sturdy
Keyword(s):  
Individual Recognition ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Poecile Atricapillus ◽  
Type Composition ◽  
Bioacoustic Analysis ◽  
Perceptual Abilities ◽  
Individual Specificity ◽  
Winter Flocks

The chick-a-dee call of the black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapillus (L., 1766), consists of four note types and is used in a wide variety of contexts including mild alarm, contact between mates, and for mobilizing members of winter flocks. Because note-type composition varies with context and because birds need to identify flock mates and individuals by their calls, it is important that birds are able to discriminate between note types and birds. Moreover, previous experiments have shown that black-capped chickadees are able to discriminate their four note types, but the acoustical basis of this process is still unknown. Here, we present the results of a bioacoustic analysis that suggests which acoustic features may be controlling the birds' perception of note types and of individual identity. Several acoustic features show high note type and individual specificity, but frequency and frequency modulation cues (in particular, those of the initial part of the note) appear more likely to be used in these processes. However, only future experiments testing the bird's perceptual abilities will determine which acoustic cues in particular are used in the discrimination of note types and in individual recognition.

scholarly journals Language evolution and climate: the case of desiccation and tone

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb Everett ◽  
Damián E. Blasí ◽  
Seán G. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Global Distribution ◽  
Testable Hypothesis ◽  
Standard Assumption ◽  
Vocal Cords ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Work First

Abstract We make the case that, contra standard assumption in linguistic theory, the sound systems of human languages are adapted to their environment. While not conclusive, this plausible case rests on several points discussed in this work: First, human behavior is generally adaptive and the assumption that this characteristic does not extend to linguistic structure is empirically unsubstantiated. Second, animal communication systems are well known to be adaptive within species across a variety of phyla and taxa. Third, research in laryngology demonstrates clearly that ambient desiccation impacts the performance of the human vocal cords. The latter point motivates a clear, testable hypothesis with respect to the synchronic global distribution of language types. Fourth, this hypothesis is supported in our own previous work, and here we discuss new approaches being developed to further explore the hypothesis. We conclude by suggesting that the time has come to more substantively examine the possibility that linguistic sound systems are adapted to their physical ecology.

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