Language discrimination by Java sparrows

Behav Processes. 2006 Jul;73(1):114-6. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2006.01.013. Epub 2006 Mar 9.

Abstract

Java sparrows (Padda oryzivora) were trained to discriminate English from Chinese spoken by a bilingual speaker. They could learn discrimination and showed generalization to new sentences spoken by the same speaker and those spoken by a new speaker. Thus, the birds distinguished between English and Chinese. Although auditory cues for the discrimination were not specified, this is the first evidence that non-mammalian species can discriminate human languages.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animal Communication
  • Animals
  • China
  • Cues
  • Discrimination Learning / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Language*
  • Male
  • Multilingualism
  • Sparrows*
  • Speech Acoustics
  • Speech Discrimination Tests*