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Element repetition rates encode functionally distinct information in pied babbler ‘clucks’ and ‘purrs’
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Engesser, Sabrina, Ridley, Amanda R. and Townsend, Simon W. (2017) Element repetition rates encode functionally distinct information in pied babbler ‘clucks’ and ‘purrs’. Animal Cognition, 20 (5). pp. 953-960. doi:10.1007/s10071-017-1114-6
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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-017-1114-6
Abstract
Human language is a recombinant system that achieves its productivity through the combination of a limited set of sounds. Research investigating the evolutionary origin of this generative capacity has generally focused on the capacity of non-human animals to combine different types of discrete sounds to encode new meaning, with less emphasis on meaning-differentiating mechanisms achieved through potentially simpler temporal modifications within a sequence of repeated sounds. Here we show that pied babblers (Turdoides bicolor) generate two functionally distinct vocalisations composed of the same sound type, which can only be distinguished by the number of repeated elements. Specifically, babblers produce extended ‘purrs’, composed of, on average, around 17 element repetitions when drawing young offspring to a food source, and truncated ‘clucks’ composed of a fixed number of 2-3 elements when collectively mediating imminent changes in foraging site. We propose that meaning-differentiating temporal structuring might be a much more widespread combinatorial mechanism than currently recognised, and is likely of particular value for species with limited vocal repertoires in order to increase their communicative output.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | Q Science > QL Zoology | ||||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Psychology | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Animal communication, Sound production by animals | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Animal Cognition | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Springer | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 1435-9448 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | September 2017 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 20 | ||||||||
| Number: | 5 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 953-960 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10071-017-1114-6 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Funder: | Universität Zürich (UZH), Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung [Swiss National Science Foundation] (SNSF) | ||||||||
| Grant number: | 57191601 (UZH), FK-14-077 (UZH), P1ZHP3_151648 (SNSF), 31003A_153065 (SNSF), PP00P3_163850 (SNSF) | ||||||||
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