First Documentation of Combinatorial Song Syntax in a Suboscine Passerine Species

Leger, Daniel W.

doi:10.1650/7851.1

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It follows that we might expect to find recombinatory CCE even before the evolution of complex societies. Indeed, evidence that simple, lattice-like social structures [24] can provide a substrate for recombinatorial culture might be provided by the combinatorial, spatially variable song structure of territorial passerine birds [25][26][27][28][29], which several authors have proposed to be a simple form of CCE [30,31].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social network architecture and the tempo of cumulative cultural evolution

Cantor¹,

Chimento²,

Smeele³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ability to build upon previous knowledge—cumulative cultural evolution (CCE)—is a hallmark of human societies. While CCE depends on the interaction between social systems, cognition and the environment, there is increasing evidence that CCE is facilitated by larger and more structured societies. However, the relative importance of social network architecture as an additional factor shaping CCE remains unclear. By simulating innovation and diffusion of cultural traits in populations with stereotyped social structures, we disentangle the relative contributions of network architecture from those of population size and connectivity. We demonstrate that while multilevel societies can promote the recombination of cultural traits into high-value products, they also hinder spread and make products more likely to go extinct. We find that transmission mechanisms are therefore critical in determining the outcomes of CCE. Our results highlight the complex interaction between population size, structure and transmission mechanisms, with important implications for future research.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social network architecture and the tempo of cumulative cultural evolution

Cantor¹,

Chimento²,

Smeele³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ocellated Antbirds (Phaenostictus mcleannani) increase the frequency of their songs during aggressive response to playback, demonstrating that suboscines can vary acoustic features with their motivational state (Araya-Ajoy et al 2009). Flammulated Attilas (Attila flammulatus) change their songs during dawn singing bouts by varying the number of elements sung and the way they were combined in a way that suggests combinatorial song syntax (Leger 2005). Single recording sessions may underestimate the amount of variation that exists in songs and calls which may reduce between-session classification accuracy (reviewed in Ellis 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ríos-Chelén and Garcia 2007; Robertson et al 2009) and variation in note composition of songs (e.g. Leger 2005) have also been observed in suboscines. Individual identification by song is important for conspecific communication in the complex communication networks in which most animals live (McGregor 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Songs of the Eastern Phoebe, a suboscine songbird, are individually distinctive but do not vary geographically

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animal displays may vary both within and among individuals and also within and among populations. This variation may contain important information used by animals for individual recognition. Suboscine birds are thought to develop song by fully innate mechanisms and are poorly studied relative to oscine birds, where song learning results in significant variation in song structure among individuals and the development of dialects. Recent research, however, demonstrates that suboscine song is often individually distinctive and in some cases shows signs of regional variation. We used spectrogram cross-correlation and canonical discriminant function analysis to examine individual and geographic variations in songs of Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis phoebe), suboscine birds with two song types. Both song types were individually distinctive and showed significantly higher cross-correlations within than among individuals. Discriminant function analysis correctly assigned 85.3% of "phee-bee" and 90.0% of "phee-b-be-bee" songs to the correct male, levels that are significantly higher than expected by chance. The individually distinctive characters of songs were also significantly repeatable among recording sessions. Eastern Phoebe song did not vary geographically between two populations separated by 640 km; permuted discriminant function analysis assigned 65% of "phee-bee" and 70% of "phee-b-be-bee" songs to the correct population, which did not differ significantly from chance expectations. Variation among males in song characteristics could be used by both males and females to discriminate among individuals. These detailed bioacoustic analyses support the idea that individual distinctive acoustic signals are widespread across suboscine birds.

show abstract

“…We certainly agree with our commentators that every language exhibits discrete combinatoriality to a significant extent. 15 But then so do many animal communication systems, including those of many oscine and non-oscine birds (Leger, 2005;Bradbury and Vehrencamp, 1998). Even humpback whales do it (Suzuki et al, 2006).…”

Section: Hockettian Design Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time for a sea-change in linguistics: Response to comments on ‘The Myth of Language Universals’

Levinson

Evans

2010

Lingua

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The general issuesThis special issue replays many of the quarrels that have bedeviled the discipline over the last fifty years. Most of these disputes are undignified and ill-informed, and do not serve the discipline well (see e.g. Newmeyer, 1983Newmeyer, , 1999Newmeyer, , 2005. Nevertheless, there is much at stake -in particular the hearts and minds of young scholars whom we hope will advance linguistics. The new generation have excellent instincts for changes in the academic landscape, and they will look for fresh approaches with a clear sense of mission. Discussions of the sort in this special issue are not the place then to make cheap debating points. We all have a sense of a tipping point in the language sciences, and the question is: What is the way forward?We believe that linguistics is on the brink of major changes in data, methods and theory. This was the message we tried to get across in the BBS paper and perhaps especially in our response to the 23 earlier comments in BBS -a response, we suspect, that many of the commentators here have failed to study. A B S T R A C TThis paper argues that the language sciences are on the brink of major changes in primary data, methods and theory. Reactions to 'The myth of language universals' (Evans and Levinson, 2009a,b) divide in response to these new challenges. Chomskyan-inspired 'Clinguists' defend a status quo, based on intuitive data and disparate universalizing abstract frameworks, reflecting 30 years of changing models. Linguists driven by interests in richer data and linguistic diversity, 'D-linguists', though more responsive to the new developments, have tended to lack an integrating framework. Here we outline such an integrative framework of the kind we were presupposing in 'Myth', namely a coevolutionary model of the interaction between mind and cultural linguistic traditions which puts variation central at all levels -a model that offers the right kind of response to the new challenges. In doing so we traverse the fundamental questions raised by the commentary in this special issue: What constitutes the data, what is the place of formal representations, how should linguistic comparison be done, what counts as explanation, what is the source of design in language?Radical changes in data, methods and theory are upon us. The future of the discipline will depend on responses to these changes: either the field turns in on itself and atrophies, or it modernizes, and tries to capitalize on the way language lies at the intersection of all the disciplines interested in human nature. ßIn the response here we try to locate the central issues in this collection of eighteen further responses to our BBS paper. As before, about half are pro and half are con. Here, drawing support from the pros we try to sharpen our own position, while focussing on the cons, to see exactly where the fault lines lie. The issues matter enormously to a discipline which, if it makes the right moves, can regain its centrality as the study of what makes us human, thus linking the humanities,...

show abstract

First Documentation of Combinatorial Song Syntax in a Suboscine Passerine Species

Cited by 13 publications

References 34 publications

Social network architecture and the tempo of cumulative cultural evolution

Social network architecture and the tempo of cumulative cultural evolution

Songs of the Eastern Phoebe, a suboscine songbird, are individually distinctive but do not vary geographically

Time for a sea-change in linguistics: Response to comments on ‘The Myth of Language Universals’

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About