bird language
From Wikipedia on bird vocalization:
The language of the birds has long been a topic for anecdote and speculation. That calls have meanings that are interpreted by their listeners has been well demonstrated. Domestic chicken have distinctive alarm calls for aerial and ground predators, and they respond to these alarm calls appropriately. However a language has, in addition to words, structures and rules. Studies to demonstrate the existence of language have been difficult due to the range of possible interpretations. Research on parrots by Irene Pepperberg is claimed to demonstrate the innate ability for grammatical structures, including the existence of concepts such as nouns, adjectives and verbs. Studies on starling vocalizations have also suggested that they may have recursive structures.
Those who set forth the existence of Bird Language in Tracking and Naturalist studies, denote 5 basic types of sound: Call, Song, Territorial, Fledgling, and Alarm. The first four are denoted as "baseline" behavior, relating to the relative safety and calm of the birds, while the later denotes the awareness of a threat or predator. Within each of these basic categories, the particular of meanings of these sounds are based upon inflection, body language and contextual setting.
Songbirds need so-called "human language gene" to learn new tunes
Another article on same topic:
Gene implicated in human language affects song learning in songbirds
Bird Language: A Path to Awareness--This is a guide for beginning birdwatchers to five types of communicative sounds they commonly make.
Article with some similar content:
Bird Language
The Five Voices of the Birds--This one is a guide for wildlife photographers, to know what situation they're walking into and/or disturbing.
And here's a poem about it:
"Bird Language" by W.H. Auden
Then there's Alex, the African grey parrot who had learned to talk about and count objects & their various qualities. His speech was not bird language (being, in fact, a subset of human language!), but demonstrates the potential for the linguistic achievements of bird brains. Here are some videos of him in action:
Alex the talking parrot
Memorial for Alex
The language of the birds has long been a topic for anecdote and speculation. That calls have meanings that are interpreted by their listeners has been well demonstrated. Domestic chicken have distinctive alarm calls for aerial and ground predators, and they respond to these alarm calls appropriately. However a language has, in addition to words, structures and rules. Studies to demonstrate the existence of language have been difficult due to the range of possible interpretations. Research on parrots by Irene Pepperberg is claimed to demonstrate the innate ability for grammatical structures, including the existence of concepts such as nouns, adjectives and verbs. Studies on starling vocalizations have also suggested that they may have recursive structures.
Those who set forth the existence of Bird Language in Tracking and Naturalist studies, denote 5 basic types of sound: Call, Song, Territorial, Fledgling, and Alarm. The first four are denoted as "baseline" behavior, relating to the relative safety and calm of the birds, while the later denotes the awareness of a threat or predator. Within each of these basic categories, the particular of meanings of these sounds are based upon inflection, body language and contextual setting.
Songbirds need so-called "human language gene" to learn new tunes
Another article on same topic:
Gene implicated in human language affects song learning in songbirds
Bird Language: A Path to Awareness--This is a guide for beginning birdwatchers to five types of communicative sounds they commonly make.
Article with some similar content:
Bird Language
The Five Voices of the Birds--This one is a guide for wildlife photographers, to know what situation they're walking into and/or disturbing.
And here's a poem about it:
"Bird Language" by W.H. Auden
Then there's Alex, the African grey parrot who had learned to talk about and count objects & their various qualities. His speech was not bird language (being, in fact, a subset of human language!), but demonstrates the potential for the linguistic achievements of bird brains. Here are some videos of him in action:
Alex the talking parrot
Memorial for Alex