Receivers respond differently to chick-a-dee calls varying in note composition in Carolina chickadees, Poecile carolinensis

Freeberg, Todd M.; Lucas, Jeffrey R.

doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1981

Cited by 101 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…However, several previous playback studies suggest that parids may be able to derive particular types of information from different note combinations. Carolina chickadees respond differently to playbacks of different note combinations in ''chicka'' calls (Freeberg and Lucas 2002). Similarly, willow tits (Poecile montanus) alter their note combinations of contact calls based on the presence or absence of food (Suzuki 2012b); the playback of food-associated contact calls facilitates the formation of mixed-species foraging flocks, unlike the contact calls recorded in a non-food context (Suzuki 2012c).…”

Section: Examples From Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semantic communication in birds: evidence from field research over the past two decades

Suzuki

2016

Ecological Research

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What do animal signals mean? This is a central question in studies on animal communication.Research into the semantics of animal signals began in 1980, with evidence that alarm calls of a non-human primate designated predators as external referents. These studies have challenged the historical assumption that such referential signaling is a unique feature of human language and produced a paradigm shift in animal communication research. Over the past two decades, an increasing number of field studies have revealed similar complexity in anti-predator communication of birds. The acoustic structures of avian alarm calls show a high degree of variation in pitch, duration, shape, and repetition rate. In addition to such distinct and graded variations, several birds combine discrete types of notes or calls into higher complex sequences. These variations in alarm calls are typically associated with the predator's attributes, such as predator type and distance, and receivers respond to them with appropriate anti-predator behaviors. Although alarm calls of several bird species, as well as those of monkeys, appear to denote predator attributes, almost nothing is known about the cognitive processes that underlie the production and perception of these signals. In this review, I explore the existing evidence for referential signaling in birds and highlight the importance of the cognitive approach to animal communication research. I hope this review will promote further investigations of alarm-calling behavior in birds and will help enhance our understanding of the ecology and evolution of semantic communication.

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Section: Examples From Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semantic communication in birds: evidence from field research over the past two decades

Suzuki

2016

Ecological Research

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“…emphasized the fact that animals are also capable of forming different types of sound combinations that could potentially be analogous or homologous to one or both levels of duality of patterning found in human languages [27][28][29][30][31]. Peter Marler played an important role in establishing the link between the levels of patterning found in human language and the different types of call combinations found in animal communication by introducing the terms phonological and lexical syntax, loosely based on the two levels of duality of patterning [32].…”

Section: Researchers Of Vocal Communication In Animals Havementioning

confidence: 99%

Language evolution: syntax before phonology?

et al. 2014

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Phonology and syntax represent two layers of sound combination central to language's expressive power. Comparative animal studies represent one approach to understand the origins of these combinatorial layers. Traditionally, phonology, where meaningless sounds form words, has been considered a simpler combination than syntax, and thus should be more common in animals. A linguistically informed review of animal call sequences demonstrates that phonology in animal vocal systems is rare, whereas syntax is more widespread. In the light of this and the absence of phonology in some languages, we hypothesize that syntax, present in all languages, evolved before phonology.

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“…However, when combining the two calls in one specific way (i.e., a few pyows followed by a few hacks), males give a supplementary message to their group members to move away from the current location (38,39). In chickadees, songs contain C and D notes, which encode different information, while the number and acoustic variation of D notes provides supporting information about the size and dangerousness of a predator (40,41). During social interactions, animals hear call combinations even more often, especially when individuals exchange vocalizations during social interactions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Campbell's monkeys concatenate vocalizations into context-specific call sequences

Ouattara

Lemasson

Zuberbühler

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

271

191

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Primate vocal behavior is often considered irrelevant in modeling human language evolution, mainly because of the caller's limited vocal control and apparent lack of intentional signaling. Here, we present the results of a long-term study on Campbell's monkeys, which has revealed an unrivaled degree of vocal complexity. Adult males produced six different loud call types, which they combined into various sequences in highly context-specific ways. We found stereotyped sequences that were strongly associated with cohesion and travel, falling trees, neighboring groups, nonpredatory animals, unspecific predatory threat, and specific predator classes. Within the responses to predators, we found that crowned eagles triggered four and leopards three different sequences, depending on how the caller learned about their presence. Callers followed a number of principles when concatenating sequences, such as nonrandom transition probabilities of call types, addition of specific calls into an existing sequence to form a different one, or recombination of two sequences to form a third one. We conclude that these primates have overcome some of the constraints of limited vocal control by combinatorial organization. As the different sequences were so tightly linked to specific external events, the Campbell's monkey call system may be the most complex example of 'proto-syntax' in animal communication known to date. alarm call ͉ nonhuman primate ͉ referential communication ͉ semantic ͉ syntax

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Receivers respond differently to chick-a-dee calls varying in note composition in Carolina chickadees, Poecile carolinensis

Cited by 101 publications

References 28 publications

Semantic communication in birds: evidence from field research over the past two decades

Semantic communication in birds: evidence from field research over the past two decades

Language evolution: syntax before phonology?

Campbell's monkeys concatenate vocalizations into context-specific call sequences

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