Element Transitions in the Phonemic Communication System of a Non-Human Animal

Abstract

Traditionally, language is a trait which has been considered as “uniquely human”, without too much consideration as to what parallels may exist in animal communication. However, in recent years this has begun to change, and great leaps are being made to study animal vocalisations on a deeper linguistic level. In doing so it has become apparent that they do use sound units as building blocks to form longer more complex calls, a parallel to human morphosyntax. However, in the case of phonemes, where these sound units are meaningless when produced in isolation, only one species has so far been demonstrated to use a comparable system: the chestnut-crowned babbler. Here we build on previous research, supporting the parallel to rudimentary phoneme use by this cooperative passerine. We demonstrate these two meaningless sound units, the A and B notes, are produced by all individuals and across different environmental contexts. We propose that their production as single elements in the babblers’ repertoire to be mistakes as the birds search for the correct call, or switch between different calls, and thus still hold no meaning or behavioural cue to the birds. We continue to demonstrate further parallels to human language through the presence of the linguistic laws of compression and coarticulation in the A-B call complexes. These two notes of the babbler’s repertoire act as an example as to the depth of complexity that exists in animal communication. Further research in other species is crucial to identify these linguistic parallels with human language in order to give greater insights into the evolution of language and communication as a whole.