Imitation of novel conspecific and human speech sounds in the killer whale (Orcinus orca)
Posted inAnimals Research

Imitation of novel conspecific and human speech sounds in the killer whale (Orcinus orca)

Vocal imitation is a hallmark of human spoken language, which, along with other advanced cognitive skills, has fuelled the evolution of human culture. Comparative evidence has revealed that although the ability to copy sounds from conspecifics is mostly uniquely human among primates, a few distantly related taxa of birds and mammals have also independently evolved this capacity.
How to do things with nonwords: pragmatics, biosemantics, and origins of language in animal communication
Posted inAnimals Pragmatics Research

How to do things with nonwords: pragmatics, biosemantics, and origins of language in animal communication

Recent discussions of animal communication and the evolution of language have advocated adopting a ‘pragmatics-first’ approach, according to which “a more productive framework” for primate communication research should be “pragmatics, the field of linguistics that examines the role of context in shaping the meaning of linguistic utterances” (Wheeler and Fischer, Evol Anthropol 21:195–205, 2012: 203). After distinguishing two different conceptions of pragmatics that advocates of the pragmatics-first approach have implicitly relied on (one Carnapian, the other Gricean), I argue that neither conception adequately serves the purposes of pragmatics-first approaches to the origins of human linguistic communication.
Animal linguistics: a primer
Posted inAnimals Research

Animal linguistics: a primer

The evolution of language has been investigated by several research communities, including biologists and linguists, striving to highlight similar linguistic capacities across species. To date, however, no consensus exists on the linguistic capacities of non-human species. Major controversies remain on the use of linguistic terminology, analysis methods and behavioural data collection.
Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations
Posted inAnimals Research

Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations

Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are highly social mammals that communicate using sequences of clicks called codas. While a subset of codas have been shown to encode information about caller identity, almost everything else about the sperm whale communication system, including its structure and information-carrying capacity, remains unknown. We show that codas exhibit contextual and combinatorial structure.
The study of acoustic signals and the supposed spoken language of the dolphins
Posted inAnimals Research

The study of acoustic signals and the supposed spoken language of the dolphins

This paper continues studies in the problem of animal language by registering acoustic signals from two quasi-stationary Black Sea bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) using a two-channel system in the frequency band up to 220 kHz with a dynamic range of 81 dB. The packs of mutually noncoherent pulses (NP) generated by the dolphins were matched to the animals. The waveforms and the spectra of these pulses changed from one pulse to another in each pack.
Neural evidence for referential understanding of object words in dogs
Posted inAnimals ERP Neuroscience Research

Neural evidence for referential understanding of object words in dogs

The study by Marianna Boros and team used EEG to probe dogs' understanding of object words, finding a human-like neural response to semantic mismatches. This suggests dogs form mental representations of object words, similar to humans. The results challenge the belief that only humans possess this ability. The study implies dogs' referential understanding of words referring to objects in their environment. The findings offer the first neural evidence for non-human animals' knowledge of object words.