Jan.
10, 2013 — Animals are more eloquent than previously assumed. Even the
monosyllabic call of the banded mongoose is structured and thus comparable with
the vowel and consonant system of human speech. Behavioral biologists from the
University of Zurich have thus become the first to demonstrate that animals
communicate with even smaller sound units than syllables.
When
humans speak, they structure individual syllables with the aid of vowels and
consonants. Due to their anatomy, animals can only produce a limited number of
distinguishable sounds and calls. Complex animal sound expressions such as
whale and bird songs are formed because smaller sound units -- so-called
"syllables" or "phonocodes" -- are repeatedly combined into
new arrangements. However, it was previously assumed that monosyllabic sound
expressions such as contact or alarm calls do not have any combinational
structures. Behavioral biologist Marta Manser and her doctoral student David
Jansen from the University of Zurich have now proved that the monosyllabic
calls of banded mongooses are structured and contain different information.
They thus demonstrate for the first time that animals also have a sound
expression structure that bears a certain similarity to the vowel and consonant
system of human speech.
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