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Leroux M, Schel AM, Wilke C, Chandia B, Zuberbühler K, Slocombe KE, Townsend SW. Call combinations and compositional processing in wild chimpanzees. Nat Commun 2023; 14:2225. [PMID: 37142584 PMCID: PMC10160036 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37816-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Through syntax, i.e., the combination of words into larger phrases, language can express a limitless number of messages. Data in great apes, our closest-living relatives, are central to the reconstruction of syntax's phylogenetic origins, yet are currently lacking. Here, we provide evidence for syntactic-like structuring in chimpanzee communication. Chimpanzees produce "alarm-huus" when surprised and "waa-barks" when potentially recruiting conspecifics during aggression or hunting. Anecdotal data suggested chimpanzees combine these calls specifically when encountering snakes. Using snake presentations, we confirm call combinations are produced when individuals encounter snakes and find that more individuals join the caller after hearing the combination. To test the meaning-bearing nature of the call combination, we use playbacks of artificially-constructed call combinations and both independent calls. Chimpanzees react most strongly to call combinations, showing longer looking responses, compared with both independent calls. We propose the "alarm-huu + waa-bark" represents a compositional syntactic-like structure, where the meaning of the call combination is derived from the meaning of its parts. Our work suggests that compositional structures may not have evolved de novo in the human lineage, but that the cognitive building-blocks facilitating syntax may have been present in our last common ancestor with chimpanzees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maël Leroux
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
- Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda.
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Anne M Schel
- Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Claudia Wilke
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews Scotland, UK
| | | | - Simon W Townsend
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
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2
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Arnaud V, Pellegrino F, Keenan S, St-Gelais X, Mathevon N, Levréro F, Coupé C. Improving the workflow to crack Small, Unbalanced, Noisy, but Genuine (SUNG) datasets in bioacoustics: The case of bonobo calls. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1010325. [PMID: 37053268 PMCID: PMC10129004 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the accumulation of data and studies, deciphering animal vocal communication remains challenging. In most cases, researchers must deal with the sparse recordings composing Small, Unbalanced, Noisy, but Genuine (SUNG) datasets. SUNG datasets are characterized by a limited number of recordings, most often noisy, and unbalanced in number between the individuals or categories of vocalizations. SUNG datasets therefore offer a valuable but inevitably distorted vision of communication systems. Adopting the best practices in their analysis is essential to effectively extract the available information and draw reliable conclusions. Here we show that the most recent advances in machine learning applied to a SUNG dataset succeed in unraveling the complex vocal repertoire of the bonobo, and we propose a workflow that can be effective with other animal species. We implement acoustic parameterization in three feature spaces and run a Supervised Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (S-UMAP) to evaluate how call types and individual signatures cluster in the bonobo acoustic space. We then implement three classification algorithms (Support Vector Machine, xgboost, neural networks) and their combination to explore the structure and variability of bonobo calls, as well as the robustness of the individual signature they encode. We underscore how classification performance is affected by the feature set and identify the most informative features. In addition, we highlight the need to address data leakage in the evaluation of classification performance to avoid misleading interpretations. Our results lead to identifying several practical approaches that are generalizable to any other animal communication system. To improve the reliability and replicability of vocal communication studies with SUNG datasets, we thus recommend: i) comparing several acoustic parameterizations; ii) visualizing the dataset with supervised UMAP to examine the species acoustic space; iii) adopting Support Vector Machines as the baseline classification approach; iv) explicitly evaluating data leakage and possibly implementing a mitigation strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Arnaud
- Département des arts, des lettres et du langage, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Canada
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, Université de Lyon, CNRS, Lyon, France
| | - François Pellegrino
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, Université de Lyon, CNRS, Lyon, France
| | - Sumir Keenan
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Saint Étienne, CRNL, CNRS UMR 5292, Inserm UMR_S 1028, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Xavier St-Gelais
- Département des arts, des lettres et du langage, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Canada
| | - Nicolas Mathevon
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Saint Étienne, CRNL, CNRS UMR 5292, Inserm UMR_S 1028, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Florence Levréro
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Saint Étienne, CRNL, CNRS UMR 5292, Inserm UMR_S 1028, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Christophe Coupé
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, Université de Lyon, CNRS, Lyon, France
- Department of Linguistics, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
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3
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Bare and Constructional Compositionality. INT J PRIMATOL 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00343-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
AbstractThis paper proposes a typology of compositionality as manifest in human language and animal communication. At the heart of the typology is a distinction between bare compositionality, in which the meaning of a complex expression is determined solely by the meanings of its constituents, and constructional compositionality, in which the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its constituents and also by various aspects of its structure. Bare and constructional compositionality may be observed in human language as well as in various animal communication systems, including primates and birds. Architecturally, bare compositionality provides the foundations for constructional compositionality, while phylogenetically, bare compositionality is a potential starting point for the evolution of constructional compositionality in animal communication and human language.
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From collocations to call-ocations: using linguistic methods to quantify animal call combinations. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022; 76:122. [PMID: 36034316 PMCID: PMC9395491 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03224-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Emerging data in a range of non-human animal species have highlighted a latent ability to combine certain pre-existing calls together into larger structures. Currently, however, the quantification of context-specific call combinations has received less attention. This is problematic because animal calls can co-occur with one another simply through chance alone. One common approach applied in language sciences to identify recurrent word combinations is collocation analysis. Through comparing the co-occurrence of two words with how each word combines with other words within a corpus, collocation analysis can highlight above chance, two-word combinations. Here, we demonstrate how this approach can also be applied to non-human animal signal sequences by implementing it on artificially generated data sets of call combinations. We argue collocation analysis represents a promising tool for identifying non-random, communicatively relevant call combinations and, more generally, signal sequences, in animals.
Significance statement
Assessing the propensity for animals to combine calls provides important comparative insights into the complexity of animal vocal systems and the selective pressures such systems have been exposed to. Currently, however, the objective quantification of context-specific call combinations has received less attention. Here we introduce an approach commonly applied in corpus linguistics, namely collocation analysis, and show how this method can be put to use for identifying call combinations more systematically. Through implementing the same objective method, so-called call-ocations, we hope researchers will be able to make more meaningful comparisons regarding animal signal sequencing abilities both within and across systems.
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Leroux M, Chandia B, Bosshard AB, Zuberbühler K, Townsend SW. Call combinations in chimpanzees: a social tool? Behav Ecol 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arac074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests the capacity for animals to combine calls into larger communicative structures is more common than previously assumed. Despite its cross-taxa prevalence, little is known regarding the evolutionary pressures driving such combinatorial abilities. One dominant hypothesis posits that social complexity and vocal complexity are linked, with changes in social structuring (e.g., group size) driving the emergence of ever-more complex vocal abilities, such as call sequencing. In this paper, we tested this hypothesis through investigating combinatoriality in the vocal system of the highly social chimpanzee. Specifically, we predicted combinatoriality to be more common in socially-driven contexts and in females and lower-ranked males (socially challenging contexts and socially challenged individuals respectively). Firstly, through applying methods from computational linguistics (i.e., collocation analyses), we built an objective repertoire of combinatorial structures in this species. Second, we investigated what potential factors influenced call combination production. We show that combinatoriality is predominant in 1) social contexts vs. non-social contexts, 2) females vs. males, and 3) negatively correlates with male rank. Together, these results suggest one function of combinatoriality in chimpanzees may be to help individuals navigate their dynamic social world. More generally, we argue these findings provide support for the hypothesized link between social and vocal complexity and can provide insight into the evolution of our own highly combinatorial communication system, language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maël Leroux
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich , Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich , Switzerland
- Budongo Conservation Field Station , Masindi , Uganda
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zürich , Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich , Switzerland
| | - Bosco Chandia
- Budongo Conservation Field Station , Masindi , Uganda
| | - Alexandra B Bosshard
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich , Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich , Switzerland
- Budongo Conservation Field Station , Masindi , Uganda
| | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Budongo Conservation Field Station , Masindi , Uganda
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zürich , Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich , Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel , Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000 Neuchâtel , Switzerland
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews , St Mary’s quad, south street, St Andrews, KY16 9JP , UK
| | - Simon W Townsend
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich , Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich , Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zürich , Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich , Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick , University Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL , UK
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6
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Girard-Buttoz C, Bortolato T, Laporte M, Grampp M, Zuberbühler K, Wittig RM, Crockford C. Population-specific call order in chimpanzee greeting vocal sequences. iScience 2022; 25:104851. [PMID: 36034222 PMCID: PMC9399282 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Primates rarely learn new vocalizations, but they can learn to use their vocalizations in different contexts. Such “vocal usage learning,” particularly in vocal sequences, is a hallmark of human language, but remains understudied in non-human primates. We assess usage learning in four wild chimpanzee communities of Taï and Budongo Forests by investigating population differences in call ordering of a greeting vocal sequence. Whilst in all groups, these sequences consisted of pant-hoots (long-distance contact call) and pant-grunts (short-distance submissive call), the order of the two calls differed across populations. Taï chimpanzees consistently commenced greetings with pant-hoots, whereas Budongo chimpanzees started with pant-grunts. We discuss different hypotheses to explain this pattern and conclude that higher intra-group aggression in Budongo may have led to a local pattern of individuals signaling submission first. This highlights how within-species variation in social dynamics may lead to flexibility in call order production, possibly acquired via usage learning. Chimpanzees combine pant-grunt and pant-hoot calls into a greeting hoot sequence Call-order of these greeting and contact calls is population specific Pant-grunt is uttered first in the population with higher in-group aggressions Vocal usage learning may lead to these population differences in sequence structure
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7
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Girard-Buttoz C, Zaccarella E, Bortolato T, Friederici AD, Wittig RM, Crockford C. Chimpanzees produce diverse vocal sequences with ordered and recombinatorial properties. Commun Biol 2022; 5:410. [PMID: 35577891 PMCID: PMC9110424 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03350-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The origins of human language remains a major question in evolutionary science. Unique to human language is the capacity to flexibly recombine a limited sound set into words and hierarchical sequences, generating endlessly new sentences. In contrast, sequence production of other animals appears limited, stunting meaning generation potential. However, studies have rarely quantified flexibility and structure of vocal sequence production across the whole repertoire. Here, we used such an approach to examine the structure of vocal sequences in chimpanzees, known to combine calls used singly into longer sequences. Focusing on the structure of vocal sequences, we analysed 4826 recordings of 46 wild adult chimpanzees from Taï National Park. Chimpanzees produced 390 unique vocal sequences. Most vocal units emitted singly were also emitted in two-unit sequences (bigrams), which in turn were embedded into three-unit sequences (trigrams). Bigrams showed positional and transitional regularities within trigrams with certain bigrams predictably occurring in either head or tail positions in trigrams, and predictably co-occurring with specific other units. From a purely structural perspective, the capacity to organize single units into structured sequences offers a versatile system potentially suitable for expansive meaning generation. Further research must show to what extent these structural sequences signal predictable meanings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Girard-Buttoz
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 BRON, Lyon, France. .,Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. .,Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tatiana Bortolato
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 BRON, Lyon, France.,Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique, Abidjan, Ivory Coast.,Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Angela D Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Roman M Wittig
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 BRON, Lyon, France.,Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique, Abidjan, Ivory Coast.,Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Catherine Crockford
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 BRON, Lyon, France. .,Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. .,Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
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8
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Coye C, Zuberbühler K, Lemasson A. The Evolution of Vocal Communication: Inertia and Divergence in Two Closely Related Primates. INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00294-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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9
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Zuberbühler K. Event parsing and the origins of grammar. WIRES COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2022; 13:e1587. [PMID: 34929755 PMCID: PMC9285794 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2020] [Revised: 10/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Klaus Zuberbühler
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience University of St Andrews St Andrews Scotland
- Institute of Biology University of Neuchatel Neuchatel
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10
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Zuberbühler K, Bickel B. Transition to language: From agent perception to event representation. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2022; 13:e1594. [PMID: 35639563 PMCID: PMC9786335 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Spoken language, as we have it, requires specific capacities-at its most basic advanced vocal control and complex social cognition. In humans, vocal control is the basis for speech, achieved through coordinated interactions of larynx activity and rapid changes in vocal tract configurations. Most likely, speech evolved in response to early humans perceiving reality in increasingly complex ways, to the effect that primate-like signaling became unsustainable as a sole communication device. However, in what ways did and do humans see the world in more complex ways compared to other species? Although animal signals can refer to external events, in contrast to humans, they usually refer to the agents only, sometimes in compositional ways, but never together with patients. It may be difficult for animals to comprehend events as part of larger social scripts, with antecedent causes and future consequences, which are more typically tie the patient into the event. Human brain enlargement over the last million years probably has provided the cognitive resources to represent social interactions as part of bigger social scripts, which enabled humans to go beyond an agent-focus to refer to agent-patient relations, the likely foundation for the evolution of grammar. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Linguistics > Evolution of Language Psychology > Comparative.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klaus Zuberbühler
- Institute of Biology, University of NeuchatelNeuchatel,School of Psychology and NeuroscienceUniversity of St AndrewsSt Andrews
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Language ScienceUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language EvolutionUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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11
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Leroux M, Bosshard AB, Chandia B, Manser A, Zuberbühler K, Townsend SW. Chimpanzees combine pant hoots with food calls into larger structures. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.06.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
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12
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Mitani JC. My life among the apes. Am J Primatol 2021; 83:e23107. [PMID: 32096269 PMCID: PMC7483333 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Revised: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 02/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
I have spent over 40 years studying the behavior of our closest living relatives, the apes. In this paper, I review my research on the spacing, mating, and vocal behavior of gibbons and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and the vocal and social behavior of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). I devote special attention to results derived from a 25-year-long study of a remarkable and extraordinarily large group of chimpanzees that has recently fissioned at Ngogo in Kibale National Park, Uganda. I conclude with some advice for the next generation of field primatologists.
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Affiliation(s)
- John C Mitani
- Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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13
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Prieur J, Barbu S, Blois‐Heulin C, Lemasson A. The origins of gestures and language: history, current advances and proposed theories. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2019; 95:531-554. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2019] [Revised: 11/30/2019] [Accepted: 12/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jacques Prieur
- Department of Education and PsychologyComparative Developmental Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Ethologie animale et humaine) – UMR 6552 F‐35380 Paimpont France
| | - Stéphanie Barbu
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Ethologie animale et humaine) – UMR 6552 F‐35380 Paimpont France
| | - Catherine Blois‐Heulin
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Ethologie animale et humaine) – UMR 6552 F‐35380 Paimpont France
| | - Alban Lemasson
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Ethologie animale et humaine) – UMR 6552 F‐35380 Paimpont France
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14
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Filippi P, Hoeschele M, Spierings M, Bowling DL. Temporal modulation in speech, music, and animal vocal communication: evidence of conserved function. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2019; 1453:99-113. [DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2019] [Revised: 08/09/2019] [Accepted: 08/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Piera Filippi
- Laboratoire Parole et Langage, LPL UMR 7309, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAix‐Marseille Université Aix‐en‐Provence France
- Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAix‐Marseille Université Aix‐en‐Provence France
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive LPC UMR 7290, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAix‐Marseille Université Marseille France
| | - Marisa Hoeschele
- Acoustics Research InstituteAustrian Academy of Science Vienna Austria
- Department of Cognitive BiologyUniversity of Vienna Vienna Austria
| | | | - Daniel L. Bowling
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesStanford University School of Medicine Stanford California
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15
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16
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Abstract
As an increasing number of researchers investigate the cognitive abilities of an ever-wider range of animals, animal cognition is currently among the most exciting fields within animal behavior. Tinbergen would be proud: all four of his approaches are being pursued and we are learning much about how animals collect information and how they use that information to make decisions for their current and future states as well as what animals do not perceive or choose to ignore. Here I provide an overview of this productivity, alighting only briefly on any single example, to showcase the diversity of species, of approaches and the sheer mass of research effort currently under way. We are getting closer to understanding the minds of other animals and the evolution of cognition at an increasingly rapid rate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan D Healy
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
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17
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Engesser S, Townsend SW. Combinatoriality in the vocal systems of nonhuman animals. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2019; 10:e1493. [PMID: 30724476 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2018] [Revised: 01/03/2019] [Accepted: 01/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
A key challenge in the field of human language evolution is the identification of the selective conditions that gave rise to language's generative nature. Comparative data on nonhuman animals provides a powerful tool to investigate similarities and differences among nonhuman and human communication systems and to reveal convergent evolutionary mechanisms. In this article, we provide an overview of the current evidence for combinatorial structures found in the vocal system of diverse species. We show that considerable structural diversity exits across and within species in the forms of combinatorial structures used. Based on this we suggest that a fine-grained classification and differentiation of combinatoriality is a useful approach permitting systematic comparisons across animals. Specifically, this will help to identify factors that might promote the emergence of combinatoriality and, crucially, whether differences in combinatorial mechanisms might be driven by variations in social and ecological conditions or cognitive capacities. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Linguistics > Evolution of Language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Engesser
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Simon W Townsend
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
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18
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Abstract
A key step in understanding the evolution of human language involves unravelling the origins of language's syntactic structure. One approach seeks to reduce the core of syntax in humans to a single principle of recursive combination, merge, for which there is no evidence in other species. We argue for an alternative approach. We review evidence that beneath the staggering complexity of human syntax, there is an extensive layer of nonproductive, nonhierarchical syntax that can be fruitfully compared to animal call combinations. This is the essential groundwork that must be explored and integrated before we can elucidate, with sufficient precision, what exactly made it possible for human language to explode its syntactic capacity, transitioning from simple nonproductive combinations to the unrivalled complexity that we now have.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon W. Townsend
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
| | - Sabrina Engesser
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sabine Stoll
- Psycholinguistics Laboratory, Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Coye C, Ouattara K, Arlet ME, Lemasson A, Zuberbühler K. Flexible use of simple and combined calls in female Campbell's monkeys. Anim Behav 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Engesser S, Ridley AR, Manser MB, Manser A, Townsend SW. Internal acoustic structuring in pied babbler recruitment cries specifies the form of recruitment. Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Engesser
- Animal Behaviour, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Amanda R Ridley
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology, The University of Western Australia, Stirling Highway, Crawley, Australia
- Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, University Avenue, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Marta B Manser
- Animal Behaviour, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andri Manser
- Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool, UK
| | - Simon W Townsend
- Animal Behaviour, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, University Road, Coventry, UK
- Comparative Communication and Cognition Group, Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Plattenstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland
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What Do Monkey Calls Mean? Trends Cogn Sci 2016; 20:894-904. [PMID: 27836778 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2016.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2016] [Revised: 10/12/2016] [Accepted: 10/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
A field of primate linguistics is gradually emerging. It combines general questions and tools from theoretical linguistics with rich data gathered in experimental primatology. Analyses of several monkey systems have uncovered very simple morphological and syntactic rules and have led to the development of a primate semantics that asks new questions about the division of semantic labor between the literal meaning of monkey calls, additional mechanisms of pragmatic enrichment, and the environmental context. We show that comparative studies across species may validate this program and may in some cases help in reconstructing the evolution of monkey communication over millions of years.
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Meaningful call combinations and compositional processing in the southern pied babbler. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:5976-81. [PMID: 27155011 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1600970113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Language's expressive power is largely attributable to its compositionality: meaningful words are combined into larger/higher-order structures with derived meaning. Despite its importance, little is known regarding the evolutionary origins and emergence of this syntactic ability. Although previous research has shown a rudimentary capability to combine meaningful calls in primates, because of a scarcity of comparative data, it is unclear to what extent analog forms might also exist outside of primates. Here, we address this ambiguity and provide evidence for rudimentary compositionality in the discrete vocal system of a social passerine, the pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor). Natural observations and predator presentations revealed that babblers produce acoustically distinct alert calls in response to close, low-urgency threats and recruitment calls when recruiting group members during locomotion. On encountering terrestrial predators, both vocalizations are combined into a "mobbing sequence," potentially to recruit group members in a dangerous situation. To investigate whether babblers process the sequence in a compositional way, we conducted systematic experiments, playing back the individual calls in isolation as well as naturally occurring and artificial sequences. Babblers reacted most strongly to mobbing sequence playbacks, showing a greater attentiveness and a quicker approach to the loudspeaker, compared with individual calls or control sequences. We conclude that the sequence constitutes a compositional structure, communicating information on both the context and the requested action. Our work supports previous research suggesting combinatoriality as a viable mechanism to increase communicative output and indicates that the ability to combine and process meaningful vocal structures, a basic syntax, may be more widespread than previously thought.
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