Little bird uses a linguistic rule thought to be unique to humans

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Little bird uses a linguistic rule thought to be unique to humans

Originally published March 8, 2016 at 12:30 pm Updated March 8, 2016 at 12:57 pm

By Rachel Feltman
The Washington Post

When it comes to human language, syntax — the set of rules for arranging words and phrases to impart meaning — is important. People might understand what you meant if you declared “to the store I go must,” but your phrasing wouldn’t seem quite right. And saying “must store go the I to” wouldn’t get you anywhere at all, even though the same six short words were in play.

But sometimes we use syntax to impart complex combinations of ideas. “Careful, it’s dangerous” is a phrase that has meaning, and so is “come toward me.” When those two phrases are combined, they have a different meaning than they do on their own: They’re directing the receiver to act in a different way than either phrase would independently.

Until now, only humans seemed to use syntax this way. But a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications suggests that the Japanese great tit — a bird closely related to the North American chickadee — uses grammatical rules like these in its calls.

All language, human and otherwise, revolves around turning meaningless sounds into something more. It’s widely accepted that many nonhuman animals use what’s called referential communication — specific sounds mean specific things to the receiver. Beyond that, there are two kinds of syntax that make speech more complicated, but also more useful: phonological and compositional. Humans have both, and until this new study, nonhuman animals had only been shown to have the former.

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Read more: http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/little-bird-uses-a-linguistic-rule-thought-to-be-unique-to-humans/

[Voice for Peace]

1. "...i have tried in my way to be free"

[Dan de Lyons]

2. Lovebirds can connect words with ideas

Whenever my little lovebird sees me with something in my hand, he says "Pick it up!"

He also shouts "Wake up!" when he wants the towels taken off his cage in the morning. I'm trying to get him to say "Ready!" when he's ready to go up to his cage for the night, and he did actually make that sound come out of him once. But he's defaulted to "Tee-Tee". It's simpler and it does the job.

He is not able to hold things with his upper limbs, so he has fixated on something he sees that he cannot do.

"Wake up!" makes him master of his cage, able to make the sun to shine.

He's about ten years old, an agapornis roseicollis.

[DirkGently]

4. Wow! n/t

[alcina]

13. My little caique uses most of his words in context

Among other things, he says "thank you" when you give him something or, more often, when he wants something that you're not giving him.

He calls my SO "daddy," but never calls me that. Says "Hi, daddy" when SO comes home, "Bye, daddy" when SO is leaving, and "where's daddy?" when he's wandering around the house looking for the SO.

And he's used one phrase with 3 different intonations in 3 different contexts:
"I'm gonna get you," in a happy sing-song when he wants to wrestle or play tag. In a vicious growl when he's in attack mode. And twice, while sitting in his window perch, he said "Gonna get you. Gonna get you Geeby" (his nickname) in a quiet, scared voice. Both times there was a hawk perched in a tree visible from the window.

I'm amazed how many people still think animals are "dumb."

[renate]

16. that's so cute!

I got a little "squee!" feeling inside when I read about him. He sounds absolutely adorable!

[alcina]

21. Thanks!

He IS adorable ... but he also has a sinister side. A cute, sometimes cuddly, little trickster.

[Baobab]

17. He sounds a lot like Alex the African Grey parrot who had a similar style of speech

You're very lucky to have such a smart friend. Make sure to take good care of him!

[alcina]

20. He's like Alex's dumb brother :-)

Sometimes too smart for his own good, and a little too tweaky at times, but I love him to pieces.

Great username, btw. I love those trees!

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thank you. n/t

[Omaha Steve]

5. Guess how I found out about this post

A little bird told me.



OS

[Judi Lynn]

8. So cute! Two very tiny guys. That's something one would want to see in person. n/t

[Gore1FL]

6. Let's hope they don't breed with the Jabber Jay. n/t

[goldent]

7. Really surprising that more animals don't have some kind of

speech ability.

[Half-Century Man]

9. It is amazing what people can notice when they

Last edited Tue Mar 15, 2016, 09:31 AM - Edit history (1)

stop being masters of the world and just be a part of a world.

I'll bet you more animals do talk, we just have to listen.

[goldent]

11. It could be, but there are a lot of animal studies

looking for just this kind of thing. We have probably yet to discover some subtle forms of communication, but I'm surprised there aren't more explicit ones. As far as I know, animal communication is more generic and not learned.

[Half-Century Man]

12. It seems it is the same with us.

For example, no matter the language, a rising lilt at the end indicates a question.

[Baobab]

18. Dogs definitely talk with both vocalizations and body language

For example, all dogs understand the so called "play bow".

Many dogs also "talk", the tone of the noises they make is much like human nonverbal communication. I suspect this is part of why humans and dogs get along so well.

My last dog was so smart and so communicative. I suspect it would be very hard to find another dog as smart or as engaging. He basically knew how to "say" almost anything he wanted to say.

[Half-Century Man]

19. My dog (gone these past three years) would respond equally well to English or Japanese.

"Good Boy" or "Yoi Inuko" got a tail wag and "Sit" or "Suwatte" caused his butt to hit the floor.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. They do. By telepathy.

[nxylas]

14. But do they know the difference between "less" and "fewer"?

Thought not. Not so clever now, are you?

[Chef Eric]

15. These days, it seems that hardly anybody knows the difference.

At the supermarket, I often hear somebody announce over the loudspeaker, "if you've got five items or less, please come to the customer service counter." I cringe each time. It might as well be the sound of fingernails running down a chalkboard.

But then, I cringe each time I hear somebody use the word "awesome" to mean "very good."