Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird calls (2016)

Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by tsimionescu on Saturday October 17, 2020 @10:21AM (#24810158)

TLDR: they have studied two types of calls in a specific bird - one type is dubbed ABC and elicits a horizontal scanning behavior; the other, dubbed D, elicits approaching the loudspeaker. Then, they have shown that the sequence ABC - D elicits both behaviors at the same time (the birds scan the area and they come close to the speaker). However, the sequence D - ABC does not elicit this combined behavior - it only elicits one behavior or the other, but not both in the same individual.

The conclusion is that the birds interpret the sequence ABC - D as a meaningful unit, different from its constituent parts, which is a kind of interpretation only previously confirmed in humans.

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Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by Swizec on Saturday October 17, 2020 @10:35AM (#24810242)

We have a parrot and he definitely understands the difference between “put kiwi to bed” and using “bed” in any other context.

Of course it could also be because he correlates environment cues to bed time.

Either way, birds are smarter than you think until you spend time observing them.

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Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by davisr on Saturday October 17, 2020 @11:11AM (#24810538)

  > birds are smarter than you think until you spend time observing them

People, too.

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Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by yowlingcat on Saturday October 17, 2020 @10:54AM (#24810397)

I've been wanting to get a parrot for a while. How often do parrots end up speaking like colorful, foul-mouthed sailors [1]? Seems charming, honestly.

[1] https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/09/zoo-separates-foul-mouthe...

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Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by Swizec on Saturday October 17, 2020 @11:16AM (#24810587)

Depends on the species. Mine doesn’t talk, he instead learned to whistle. His species (sun conure) doesn’t normally whistle, he picked it up from me. It’s more pleasant than the 80db screams so we encourage it.

He used to say his name sort of (if you added some human pattern recognition magic) but stopped after we moved apartments. No idea why.

The worst is when he mimics human speech patterns. You can tell it isn’t words but it’s close enough to distract you every time.

Main thing with parrots is that they’re more work than people think. Like human children they get bored, have tantrums, internal emotional states, and respond to the same stimuli differently based on mood. And unlike children they cannot be reasoned with. Some are smart enough to lie and obscure because they have theory of mind.

And they stay like that for 30 years. Some species even longer.

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Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by jacquesm on Saturday October 17, 2020 @01:27PM (#24811568)

I'd suggest you do some 'parrot sitting' first, look after someone's parrot for a while to see if it is something that you will really like. A lot of parrots get bought as impulse buys by people who have absolutely no idea what it is like to actually have a parrot and to have to take care of it.

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Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by yowlingcat on Sunday October 18, 2020 @08:59AM (#24817551)

Yeah, that's always the right answer. I've gone through this mental exercise multiple times before -- I want to get a parrot! But they live a long time and are extremely intelligent. They're very independent and when they are unhappy can become destructive. Am I a good enough beast-keeper to pull that off? Not really. I agree with you that parrot sitting is a smart idea.

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Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by danenania on Saturday October 17, 2020 @01:11PM (#24811440)

I wonder how generalizable research on parrot language would be to other bird species? They seem to be pretty unique in their capabilities, but perhaps that's just from a human perspective.

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Re:Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird ca... by Swizec on Saturday October 17, 2020 @01:24PM (#24811540)

Some corvids can learn how to speak but I haven’t heard whether they understand the words. With parrots there’s evidence that some species learn meanings of the words they use.

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