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Zhang C, Zheng Z, Lucas JR, Wang Y, Fan X, Zhao X, Feng J, Sun C, Jiang T. Do bats' social vocalizations conform to Zipf's law and the Menzerath-Altmann law? iScience 2024; 27:110401. [PMID: 39104571 PMCID: PMC11298857 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2024] [Revised: 05/18/2024] [Accepted: 06/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The study of vocal communication in non-human animals can uncover the roots of human languages. Recent studies of language have focused on two linguistic laws: Zipf's law and the Menzerath-Altmann law. However, whether bats' social vocalizations follow these linguistic laws, especially Menzerath's law, has largely been unexplored. Here, we used Asian particolored bats, Vespertilio sinensis, to examine whether aggressive vocalizations conform to Zipf's and Menzerath's laws. Aggressive vocalizations of V. sinensis adhere to Zipf's law, with the most frequent syllables being the shortest in duration. There was a negative association between the syllable number within a call and the average syllable duration, in agreement with Menzerath's law. A decrease in the proportion of some long syllables and a decrease in the duration of several syllable types in long-duration calls explain the occurrence of this law. Our results indicate that a general compression principle organizes aspects of bat vocal communication systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunmian Zhang
- Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
- Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
| | - Ziqi Zheng
- Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
- Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
| | - Jeffrey R. Lucas
- College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, 2888 Xincheng Street, Changchun 130118, China
| | - Yicheng Wang
- Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
- Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
| | - Xin Fan
- Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
- Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
| | - Xin Zhao
- School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, 81 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot 010022, China
| | - Jiang Feng
- Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Resource Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Normal University, 2555 Jingyue Street, Changchun 130117, China
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Congnan Sun
- Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
- Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
| | - Tinglei Jiang
- Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Resource Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Normal University, 2555 Jingyue Street, Changchun 130117, China
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Youngblood M. Language-like efficiency and structure in house finch song. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20240250. [PMID: 38565151 PMCID: PMC10987240 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Communication needs to be complex enough to be functional while minimizing learning and production costs. Recent work suggests that the vocalizations and gestures of some songbirds, cetaceans and great apes may conform to linguistic laws that reflect this trade-off between efficiency and complexity. In studies of non-human communication, though, clustering signals into types cannot be done a priori, and decisions about the appropriate grain of analysis may affect statistical signals in the data. The aim of this study was to assess the evidence for language-like efficiency and structure in house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) song across three levels of granularity in syllable clustering. The results show strong evidence for Zipf's rank-frequency law, Zipf's law of abbreviation and Menzerath's law. Additional analyses show that house finch songs have small-world structure, thought to reflect systematic structure in syntax, and the mutual information decay of sequences is consistent with a combination of Markovian and hierarchical processes. These statistical patterns are robust across three levels of granularity in syllable clustering, pointing to a limited form of scale invariance. In sum, it appears that house finch song has been shaped by pressure for efficiency, possibly to offset the costs of female preferences for complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mason Youngblood
- Minds and Traditions Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, Thüringen, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
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3
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Grund C, Badihi G, Graham KE, Safryghin A, Hobaiter C. GesturalOrigins: A bottom-up framework for establishing systematic gesture data across ape species. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:986-1001. [PMID: 36922450 PMCID: PMC10830607 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02082-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023]
Abstract
Current methodologies present significant hurdles to understanding patterns in the gestural communication of individuals, populations, and species. To address this issue, we present a bottom-up data collection framework for the study of gesture: GesturalOrigins. By "bottom-up", we mean that we minimise a priori structural choices, allowing researchers to define larger concepts (such as 'gesture types', 'response latencies', or 'gesture sequences') flexibly once coding is complete. Data can easily be re-organised to provide replication of, and comparison with, a wide range of datasets in published and planned analyses. We present packages, templates, and instructions for the complete data collection and coding process. We illustrate the flexibility that our methodological tool offers with worked examples of (great ape) gestural communication, demonstrating differences in the duration of action phases across distinct gesture action types and showing how species variation in the latency to respond to gestural requests may be revealed or masked by methodological choices. While GesturalOrigins is built from an ape-centred perspective, the basic framework can be adapted across a range of species and potentially to other communication systems. By making our gesture coding methods transparent and open access, we hope to enable a more direct comparison of findings across research groups, improve collaborations, and advance the field to tackle some of the long-standing questions in comparative gesture research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Grund
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, KY16 9JP, UK.
| | - Gal Badihi
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Kirsty E Graham
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Alexandra Safryghin
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Catherine Hobaiter
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, KY16 9JP, UK
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Favaro L, Zanoli A, Ludynia K, Snyman A, Carugati F, Friard O, Scaglione FE, Manassero L, Valazza A, Mathevon N, Gamba M, Reby D. Vocal tract shape variation contributes to individual vocal identity in African penguins. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231029. [PMID: 37817600 PMCID: PMC10565386 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Variation in formant frequencies has been shown to affect social interactions and sexual competition in a range of avian species. Yet, the anatomical bases of this variation are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the morphological correlates of formants production in the vocal apparatus of African penguins. We modelled the geometry of the supra-syringeal vocal tract of 20 specimens to generate a population of virtual vocal tracts with varying dimensions. We then estimated the acoustic response of these virtual vocal tracts and extracted the centre frequency of the first four predicted formants. We demonstrate that: (i) variation in length and cross-sectional area of vocal tracts strongly affects the formant pattern, (ii) the tracheal region determines most of this variation, and (iii) the skeletal size of penguins does not correlate with the trachea length and consequently has relatively little effect on formants. We conclude that in African penguins, while the variation in vocal tract geometry generates variation in resonant frequencies supporting the discrimination of conspecifics, such variation does not provide information on the emitter's body size. Overall, our findings advance our understanding of the role of formant frequencies in bird vocal communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Livio Favaro
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, CRNL, University of Saint-Etienne, CNRS, Inserm, Saint-Etienne, France
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Anna Zanoli
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Katrin Ludynia
- Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa
| | - Albert Snyman
- Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Filippo Carugati
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Olivier Friard
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Luca Manassero
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Alberto Valazza
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Nicolas Mathevon
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, CRNL, University of Saint-Etienne, CNRS, Inserm, Saint-Etienne, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, 1 rue Descartes, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - David Reby
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, CRNL, University of Saint-Etienne, CNRS, Inserm, Saint-Etienne, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, 1 rue Descartes, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
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Golbeck J. Benford's Law applies to word frequency rank in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0291337. [PMID: 37708112 PMCID: PMC10501622 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Benford's Law states that, in many real-world data sets, the frequency of numbers' first digits is predicted by the formula log(1 + (1/d)). Numbers beginning with a 1 occur roughly 30% of the time, and are six times more common than numbers beginning with a 9. We show that Benford's Law applies to the the frequency rank of words in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian. We calculated the frequency rank of words in the Google Ngram Viewer corpora. Then, using the first significant digit of the frequency rank, we found the FSD distribution adhered to the expected Benford's Law distribution. Over a series of additional corpora from sources ranging from news to books to social media and across the languages studied, we consistently found adherence to Benford's Law. Furthermore, at the user-level on social media, we found Benford's Law holds for the vast majority of users' collected posts and significant deviations from Benford's Law tends to be a mark of spam bots.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Golbeck
- University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States of America
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Koshevoy A, Miton H, Morin O. Zipf's Law of Abbreviation holds for individual characters across a broad range of writing systems. Cognition 2023; 238:105527. [PMID: 37364507 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Revised: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Zipf's Law of Abbreviation - the idea that more frequent symbols in a code are simpler than less frequent ones - has been shown to hold at the level of words in many languages. We tested whether it holds at the level of individual written characters. Character complexity is similar to word length in that it requires more cognitive and motor effort for producing and processing more complex symbols. We built a dataset of character complexity and frequency measures covering 27 different writing systems. According to our data, Zipf's Law of Abbreviation holds for every writing system in our dataset - the more frequent characters have lower degrees of complexity and vice-versa. This result provides further evidence of optimization mechanisms shaping communication systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexey Koshevoy
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, 13003 Marseille, France; Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, UMR 8129, 75005 Paris, France; Minds and Traditions Group, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, 07745 Jena, Germany.
| | | | - Olivier Morin
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, UMR 8129, 75005 Paris, France; Minds and Traditions Group, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, 07745 Jena, Germany
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7
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Terranova F, Baciadonna L, Maccarone C, Isaja V, Gamba M, Favaro L. Penguins perceive variations of source- and filter-related vocal parameters of species-specific vocalisations. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:1613-1622. [PMID: 37401990 PMCID: PMC10442253 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01806-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023]
Abstract
Animal vocalisations encode a wide range of biological information about the age, sex, body size, and social status of the emitter. Moreover, vocalisations play a significant role in signalling the identity of the emitter to conspecifics. Recent studies have shown that, in the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), acoustic cues to individual identity are encoded in the fundamental frequency (F0) and resonance frequencies (formants) of the vocal tract. However, although penguins are known to produce vocalisations where F0 and formants vary among individuals, it remains to be tested whether the receivers can perceive and use such information in the individual recognition process. In this study, using the Habituation-Dishabituation (HD) paradigm, we tested the hypothesis that penguins perceive and respond to a shift of ± 20% (corresponding to the natural inter-individual variation observed in ex-situ colonies) of F0 and formant dispersion (ΔF) of species-specific calls. We found that penguins were more likely to look rapidly and for longer at the source of the sound when F0 and formants of the calls were manipulated, indicating that they could perceive variations of these parameters in the vocal signals. Our findings provide the first experimental evidence that, in the African penguin, listeners can perceive changes in F0 and formants, which can be used by the receiver as potential cues for the individual discrimination of the emitter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Terranova
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Luigi Baciadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
| | - Chiara Maccarone
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Livio Favaro
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
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8
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Feist F, Terranova F, Petersen GS, Tourtigues E, Friard O, Gamba M, Ludynia K, Gridley T, Pichegru L, Mathevon N, Reby D, Favaro L. Effect of Environmental Variables on African Penguin Vocal Activity: Implications for Acoustic Censusing. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:1191. [PMID: 37759590 PMCID: PMC10525562 DOI: 10.3390/biology12091191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2023] [Revised: 08/26/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023]
Abstract
Global biodiversity is in rapid decline, and many seabird species have disproportionally poorer conservation statuses than terrestrial birds. A good understanding of population dynamics is necessary for successful conservation efforts, making noninvasive, cost-effective monitoring tools essential. Here, we set out to investigate whether passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) could be used to estimate the number of animals within a set area of an African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) colony in South Africa. We were able to automate the detection of ecstatic display songs (EDSs) in our recordings, thus facilitating the handling of large datasets. This allowed us to show that calling rate increased with wind speed and humidity but decreased with temperature, and to highlight apparent abundance variations between nesting habitat types. We then showed that the number of EDSs in our recordings positively correlated with the number of callers counted during visual observations, indicating that the density could be estimated based on calling rate. Our observations suggest that increasing temperatures may adversely impact penguin calling behaviour, with potential negative consequences for population dynamics, suggesting the importance of effective conservation measures. Crucially, this study shows that PAM could be successfully used to monitor this endangered species' populations with minimal disturbance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska Feist
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Team, University of Saint-Etienne, 42100 Saint-Etienne, France
| | - Francesca Terranova
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
| | - Gavin Sean Petersen
- Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), Cape Town 7441, South Africa
| | - Emma Tourtigues
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Team, University of Saint-Etienne, 42100 Saint-Etienne, France
| | - Olivier Friard
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
| | - Katrin Ludynia
- Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), Cape Town 7441, South Africa
- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville 7535, South Africa
| | - Tess Gridley
- Statistics in Ecology, Environment and Conservation, Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa
| | - Lorien Pichegru
- Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elisabeth 6031, South Africa
| | - Nicolas Mathevon
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Team, University of Saint-Etienne, 42100 Saint-Etienne, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, 1 rue Descartes, CEDEX 05, 75231 Paris, France
| | - David Reby
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Team, University of Saint-Etienne, 42100 Saint-Etienne, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, 1 rue Descartes, CEDEX 05, 75231 Paris, France
| | - Livio Favaro
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
- CAPE Department, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, 80121 Naples, Italy
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Markov I, Kharitonova K, Grigorenko EL. Language: Its Origin and Ongoing Evolution. J Intell 2023; 11:jintelligence11040061. [PMID: 37103246 PMCID: PMC10142271 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11040061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Revised: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023] Open
Abstract
With the present paper, we sought to use research findings to illustrate the following thesis: the evolution of language follows the principles of human evolution. We argued that language does not exist for its own sake, it is one of a multitude of skills that developed to achieve a shared communicative goal, and all its features are reflective of this. Ongoing emerging language adaptations strive to better fit the present state of the human species. Theories of language have evolved from a single-modality to multimodal, from human-specific to usage-based and goal-driven. We proposed that language should be viewed as a multitude of communication techniques that have developed and are developing in response to selective pressure. The precise nature of language is shaped by the needs of the species (arguably, uniquely H. sapiens) utilizing it, and the emergence of new situational adaptations, as well as new forms and types of human language, demonstrates that language includes an act driven by a communicative goal. This article serves as an overview of the current state of psycholinguistic research on the topic of language evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilia Markov
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
- Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics (TIMES), The University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
- Center for Cognitive Sciences, Sirius University for Science and Technology, Sochi 354340, Russia
| | | | - Elena L. Grigorenko
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
- Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics (TIMES), The University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
- Center for Cognitive Sciences, Sirius University for Science and Technology, Sochi 354340, Russia
- Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
- Child Study Center and Haskins Laboratories, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- Rector’s Office, Moscow State University for Psychology and Education, Moscow 127051, Russia
- Correspondence:
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Safryghin A, Cross C, Fallon B, Heesen R, Ferrer-i-Cancho R, Hobaiter C. Variable expression of linguistic laws in ape gesture: a case study from chimpanzee sexual solicitation. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220849. [PMID: 36405634 PMCID: PMC9653249 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Two language laws have been identified as consistent patterns shaping animal behaviour, both acting on the organizational level of communicative systems. Zipf's law of brevity describes a negative relationship between behavioural length and frequency. Menzerath's law defines a negative correlation between the number of behaviours in a sequence and average length of the behaviour composing it. Both laws have been linked with the information-theoretic principle of compression, which tends to minimize code length. We investigated their presence in a case study of male chimpanzee sexual solicitation gesture. We failed to find evidence supporting Zipf's law of brevity, but solicitation gestures followed Menzerath's law: longer sequences had shorter average gesture duration. Our results extend previous findings suggesting gesturing may be limited by individual energetic constraints. However, such patterns may only emerge in sufficiently large datasets. Chimpanzee gestural repertoires do not appear to manifest a consistent principle of compression previously described in many other close-range systems of communication. Importantly, the same signallers and signals were previously shown to adhere to these laws in subsets of the repertoire when used in play; highlighting that, in addition to selection on the signal repertoire, ape gestural expression appears shaped by factors in the immediate socio-ecological context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Safryghin
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK
| | - Catharine Cross
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK
| | - Brittany Fallon
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK
| | | | - Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho
- Complexity and Quantitative Linguistics Laboratory, Laboratory for Relational Algorithmics, Complexity, and Learning Research Group, Departament de Ciències de la Computació, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Catherine Hobaiter
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK
- Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda
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Amici F, Oña L, Liebal K. Compositionality in Primate Gestural Communication and Multicomponent Signal Displays. INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00316-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
Abstract
AbstractCompositionality is the ability to combine meaningful elements into new combinations with novel meanings, and it has long been considered one of the main hallmarks of human communication. However, very few studies have addressed the compositional aspects of communication in species other than humans, although a comparative approach is essential to understand the evolutionary origins of human compositionality. We review previous research on compositionality in the gestural communication systems of nonhuman primates, with a special focus on the multicomponent aspects of compositionality. We start by discussing the importance of a comparative approach to study the evolution of human language and then compare the current state of the art on compositionality in the vocal, facial, and gestural communication systems of primates and other species. We further discuss alternative approaches to study compositionality in primates, which may help overcome some of the current methodological limitations in this research area. In particular, we 1) highlight the importance of interdisciplinary tools that facilitate the statistical identification of multicomponent and multimodal combinations of signals, 2) discuss different approaches to infer the meaning of signal combinations, with a special focus on the use of contextual cues and meta-communication, and 3) discuss temporal and intentional aspects of compositionality in primates. Finally, we outline possible lines of research for future studies in this area (e.g., more consistent use of terms across research areas, use of different methodological tools and larger datasets, inclusion of developmental approaches), which might shed light into the evolutionary origins of one of the most crucial properties of human communication.
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12
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Semple S, Ferrer-I-Cancho R, Gustison ML. Linguistic laws in biology. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:53-66. [PMID: 34598817 PMCID: PMC8678306 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Revised: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Linguistic laws, the common statistical patterns of human language, have been investigated by quantitative linguists for nearly a century. Recently, biologists from a range of disciplines have started to explore the prevalence of these laws beyond language, finding patterns consistent with linguistic laws across multiple levels of biological organisation, from molecular (genomes, genes, and proteins) to organismal (animal behaviour) to ecological (populations and ecosystems). We propose a new conceptual framework for the study of linguistic laws in biology, comprising and integrating distinct levels of analysis, from description to prediction to theory building. Adopting this framework will provide critical new insights into the fundamental rules of organisation underpinning natural systems, unifying linguistic laws and core theory in biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart Semple
- School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Roehampton, London, UK.
| | - Ramon Ferrer-I-Cancho
- Complexity and Quantitative Linguistics Laboratory, Laboratory for Relational Algorithmics, Complexity, and Learning Research Group, Departament de Ciències de la Computació, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Morgan L Gustison
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
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G. Torre I, Dębowski Ł, Hernández-Fernández A. Can Menzerath's law be a criterion of complexity in communication? PLoS One 2021; 16:e0256133. [PMID: 34415939 PMCID: PMC8378695 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Menzerath's law is a quantitative linguistic law which states that, on average, the longer is a linguistic construct, the shorter are its constituents. In contrast, Menzerath-Altmann's law (MAL) is a precise mathematical power-law-exponential formula which expresses the expected length of the linguistic construct conditioned on the number of its constituents. In this paper, we investigate the anatomy of MAL for constructs being word tokens and constituents being syllables, measuring its length in graphemes. First, we derive the exact form of MAL for texts generated by the memoryless source with three emitted symbols, which can be interpreted as a monkey typing model or a null model. We show that this null model complies with Menzerath's law, revealing that Menzerath's law itself can hardly be a criterion of complexity in communication. This observation does not apply to the more precise Menzerath-Altmann's law, which predicts an inverted regime for sufficiently range constructs, i.e., the longer is a word, the longer are its syllables. To support this claim, we analyze MAL on data from 21 languages, consisting of texts from the Standardized Project Gutenberg. We show the presence of the inverted regime, not exhibited by the null model, and we demonstrate robustness of our results. We also report the complicated distribution of syllable sizes with respect to their position in the word, which might be related with the emerging MAL. Altogether, our results indicate that Menzerath's law-in terms of correlations-is a spurious observation, while complex patterns and efficiency dynamics should be rather attributed to specific forms of Menzerath-Altmann's law.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iván G. Torre
- Vicomtech Foundation, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Łukasz Dębowski
- Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland
| | - Antoni Hernández-Fernández
- Complexity and Quantitative Linguistics Lab, Institut de Ciències de l’Educació, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Societat Catalana de Tecnologia, Secció de Ciències i Tecnologia, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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14
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Gémard C, Planas-Bielsa V, Bonadonna F, Aubin T. Contextual variations in calls of two nonoscine birds: the blue petrel Halobaena caerulea and the Antarctic prion Pachyptila desolata. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Bird vocalizations are critical cues in social interactions as they convey temporary information varying with the social context, for example, the signaler motivation when facing a rival or a potential mate. To date, literature mainly focused on learning birds. Burrowing petrels (Procellariidae) are nonlearning birds with a limited vocal repertoire. Bachelor males communicate with conspecifics with a single call emitted in three situations: in the absence of a certain auditory (spontaneous calls), toward females (female-directed calls), and toward males (male-directed calls). We first hypothesized that, although the call structure is preserved, temporal and spectral parameters vary between the three call types of bachelor males, translating different motivations (Motivation Hypothesis). To go further, we hypothesized that acoustic variations in male-directed calls indicate the signaler’s aggressive motivation and, therefore, the variations are similar whether calls are produced by breeder or bachelor males (Breeding Status Hypothesis). We tested the two hypotheses performing field playback experiments on two petrel species: the blue petrel (Halobaena caerulea) and the Antarctic prion (Pachyptila desolata). Despite the obvious call stereotypy, we observed temporal variations and frequency shifts when males react to a female or a male, which may translate the sexual or aggressive motivation of the signaler. Furthermore, the similarity of variations in male-directed calls of both breeder and bachelor males suggests the aggressive motivation. So far, vocal plasticity in nonlearning birds has been greatly underestimated. Here, we highlighted the expression of different motivations through vocal variations and the ability to produce frequency variations in species with genetically coded vocalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlène Gémard
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
- Equipe Communications Acoustiques, UMR 9197, Neuro-PSI-CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
| | - Víctor Planas-Bielsa
- Département de Biologie Polaire, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine 1ère, Principality of Monaco, Monaco
| | - Francesco Bonadonna
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
| | - Thierry Aubin
- Equipe Communications Acoustiques, UMR 9197, Neuro-PSI-CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
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James LS, Mori C, Wada K, Sakata JT. Phylogeny and mechanisms of shared hierarchical patterns in birdsong. Curr Biol 2021; 31:2796-2808.e9. [PMID: 33989526 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2020] [Revised: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 04/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Organizational patterns can be shared across biological systems, and revealing the factors shaping common patterns can provide insight into fundamental biological mechanisms. The behavioral pattern that elements with more constituents tend to consist of shorter constituents (Menzerath's law [ML]) was described first in speech and language (e.g., words with more syllables consist of shorter syllables) and subsequently in music and animal communication. Menzerath's law is hypothesized to reflect efficiency in information transfer, but biases and constraints in motor production can also lead to this pattern. We investigated the evolutionary breadth of ML and the contribution of production mechanisms to ML in the songs of 15 songbird species. Negative relationships between the number and duration of constituents (e.g., syllables in phrases) were observed in all 15 species. However, negative relationships were also observed in null models in which constituents were randomly allocated into observed element durations, and the observed negative relationship for numerous species did not differ from the null model; consequently, ML in these species could simply reflect production constraints and not communicative efficiency. By contrast, ML was significantly different from the null model for more than half the cases, suggesting additional organizational rules are imposed onto birdsongs. Production mechanisms are also underscored by the finding that canaries and zebra finches reared without auditory experiences that guide vocal development produced songs with nearly identical ML patterning as typically reared birds. These analyses highlight the breadth with which production mechanisms contribute to this prevalent organizational pattern in behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Logan S James
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada.
| | - Chihiro Mori
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Kazuhiro Wada
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan; Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Jon T Sakata
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada; Centre for Research on Brain, Language, and Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2A8, Canada.
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16
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Calcari C, Pilenga C, Baciadonna L, Gamba M, Favaro L. Long-term stability of vocal individuality cues in a territorial and monogamous seabird. Anim Cogn 2021; 24:1165-1169. [PMID: 33973095 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01518-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2021] [Revised: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 04/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The stability of individual acoustic features is fundamental in social species, and more importantly in monogamous and territorial species, showing long-term fidelity both to the partner and the breeding site. In this study, the stability over time of two discrete vocal types was investigated in the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), a monogamous and territorial seabird. Contact calls and ecstatic display songs were recorded from an ex situ colony in 2017 and in 2020. For each vocalisation, we measured 14 spectral and temporal acoustic parameters related to both source and filter components. Two separate leave-one-out cross-validated Discriminant Function Analyses (DFA) were then performed, generating the discriminant functions from the vocalisations collected in 2017 to classify those recorded in 2020. The DFA correctly classified 62% of the contact calls (10 subjects) and 80.9% of the ecstatic display songs (seven subjects) according to the correct emitter, showing that acoustic cues to individuality encoded in both vocal types remained unchanged over four consecutive breeding seasons. We suggest that, in this monogamous and territorial bird species, individual acoustic stability could be selected for to identify groupmates and neighbours over the years and to help couples to reunite in consecutive breeding seasons, increasing individual fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Calcari
- Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Luigi Baciadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Livio Favaro
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
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17
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Linguistic laws of brevity: conformity in Indri indri. Anim Cogn 2021; 24:897-906. [PMID: 33683508 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01495-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Revised: 01/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Vocal and gestural sequences of several primates have been found to conform to two general principles of information compression: the compensation between the duration of a construct and that of its components (Menzerath-Altmann law) and an inverse relationship between signal duration and its occurrence (Zipf's law of abbreviation). Even though Zipf's law of brevity has been proposed as a universal in animal communication, evidence on non-human primate vocal behavior conformity to linguistic laws is still debated, and information on strepsirrhine primates is lacking. We analyzed the vocal behavior of the unique singing lemur species (Indri indri) to assess whether the song of the species shows evidence for compression. As roars have a chaotic structure that impedes the recognition of each individual utterance, and long notes are usually given by males, we focused on the core part of the song (i.e., the descending phrases, composed of two-six units). Our results indicate that indris' songs conform to Zipf's and Menzerath-Altmann linguistic laws. Indeed, shorter phrases are more likely to be included in the song, and units' duration decrease at the increase of the size of the phrases. We also found that, despite a sexual dimorphism in the duration of both units and phrases, these laws characterize sequences of both males and females. Overall, we provide the first evidence for a trade-off between signal duration and occurrence in the vocal behavior of a strepsirrhine species, suggesting that selective pressures for vocal compression are more ancestral than previously assumed within primates.
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Clink DJ, Lau AR. Adherence to Menzerath's Law is the exception (not the rule) in three duetting primate species. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:201557. [PMID: 33391812 PMCID: PMC7735330 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Across diverse systems including language, music and genomes, there is a tendency for longer sequences to contain shorter constituents; this phenomenon is known as Menzerath's Law. Whether Menzerath's Law is a universal in biological systems, is the result of compression (wherein shortest possible strings represent the maximum amount of information) or emerges from an inevitable relationship between sequence and constituent length remains a topic of debate. In non-human primates, the vocalizations of geladas, male gibbons and chimpanzees exhibit patterns consistent with Menzerath's Law. Here, we use existing datasets of three duetting primate species (tarsiers, titi monkeys and gibbons) to examine the wide-scale applicability of Menzerath's Law. Primate duets provide a useful comparative model to test for the broad-scale applicability of Menzerath's Law, as they evolved independently under presumably similar selection pressures and are emitted under the same context(s) across taxa. Only four out of the eight call types we examined were consistent with Menzerath's Law. Two of these call types exhibited a negative relationship between the position of the note in the call and note duration, indicating that adherence to Menzerath's Law in these call types may be related to breathing constraints. Exceptions to Menzerath's Law occur when notes are relatively homogeneous, or when species-specific call structure leads to a deterministic decrease in note duration. We show that adherence to Menzerath's Law is the exception rather than the rule in duetting primates. It is possible that selection pressures for long-range signals that can travel effectively over large distances was stronger than that of compression in primate duets. Future studies investigating adherence to Menzerath's Law across the vocal repertoires of these species will help us better elucidate the pressures that shape both short- and long-distance acoustic signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dena J. Clink
- Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
| | - Allison R. Lau
- Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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Watson SK, Heesen R, Hedwig D, Robbins MM, Townsend SW. An exploration of Menzerath's law in wild mountain gorilla vocal sequences. Biol Lett 2020; 16:20200380. [PMID: 33050832 PMCID: PMC7655478 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Menzerath's law, traditionally framed as a negative relationship between the size of a structure and its constituent parts (e.g. sentences with more clauses have shorter clauses), is widespread across information-coding systems ranging from human language and the vocal and gestural sequences of primates and birds, to the building blocks of DNA, genes and proteins. Here, we analysed an extensive dataset of 'close-call' sequences produced by wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei, no. individuals = 10, no. sequences = 2189) to determine whether, in accordance with Menzerath's law, a negative relationship existed between the number of vocal units in a sequence and the duration of its constituent units. We initially found positive evidence for this but, on closer inspection, the negative relationship was driven entirely by the difference between single- and multi-unit (two to six unit) sequences. Once single-unit sequences were excluded from the analysis, we identified a relationship in the opposite direction, with longer sequences generally composed of longer units. The close-call sequences of mountain gorillas therefore represent an intriguing example of a non-human vocal system that only partially conforms to the predictions of Menzerath's law.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart K. Watson
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | - Daniela Hedwig
- Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Itaca, NY, USA
| | - Martha M. Robbins
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Simon W. Townsend
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK
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20
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Clink DJ, Ahmad AH, Klinck H. Brevity is not a universal in animal communication: evidence for compression depends on the unit of analysis in small ape vocalizations. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:200151. [PMID: 32431905 PMCID: PMC7211885 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.200151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/10/2020] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Evidence for compression, or minimization of code length, has been found across biological systems from genomes to human language and music. Two linguistic laws-Menzerath's Law (which states that longer sequences consist of shorter constituents) and Zipf's Law of abbreviation (a negative relationship between signal length and frequency of use)-are predictions of compression. It has been proposed that compression is a universal in animal communication, but there have been mixed results, particularly in reference to Zipf's Law of abbreviation. Like songbirds, male gibbons (Hylobates muelleri) engage in long solo bouts with unique combinations of notes which combine into phrases. We found strong support for Menzerath's Law as the longer a phrase, the shorter the notes. To identify phrase types, we used state-of-the-art affinity propagation clustering, and were able to predict phrase types using support vector machines with a mean accuracy of 74%. Based on unsupervised phrase type classification, we did not find support for Zipf's Law of abbreviation. Our results indicate that adherence to linguistic laws in male gibbon solos depends on the unit of analysis. We conclude that principles of compression are applicable outside of human language, but may act differently across levels of organization in biological systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dena J. Clink
- Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Abdul Hamid Ahmad
- Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sandakan Campus, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - Holger Klinck
- Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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