A Sing-Song Way of Vocalizing: Generalization and Specificity in Language and Birdsong

Madza Farias-Virgens; Stephanie A White

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2017.11.027

A Sing-Song Way of Vocalizing: Generalization and Specificity in Language and Birdsong

Neuron. 2017 Dec 6;96(5):958-960. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.11.027.

Authors

Madza Farias-Virgens¹, Stephanie A White²

Affiliations

¹ Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, 610 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA; Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, 610 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA.
² Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, 610 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA; Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, 610 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239, USA. Electronic address: sawhite@ucla.edu.

PMID: 29216457
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.11.027

Abstract

Spoken languages such as German are extremely discrete, whereas others such as Portuguese are melodic or "sing-song" wherein identifying a word relies on what comes before and after. Perhaps surprisingly, birdsong also exhibits specificity and generalization as articulated by Tian and Brainard (2017).

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MeSH terms

Animals
Language
Songbirds*
Vocalization, Animal