title: Vocal learning, prosody, and basal ganglia: don't underestimate their complexity.
abstract: Ackermann et al.'s arguments in the target article need sharpening and rethinking at both mechanistic and evolutionary levels. First, the authors' evolutionary arguments are inconsistent with recent evidence concerning nonhuman animal rhythmic abilities. Second, prosodic intonation conveys much more complex linguistic information than mere emotional expression. Finally, human adults' basal ganglia have a considerably wider role in speech modulation than Ackermann et al. surmise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Biology,University of Vienna,A-1090 Vienna,Austria.andrea.ravignani@univie.ac.atmauricio.martins@univie.ac.attecumseh.fitch@univie.ac.athttp://homepage.univie.ac.at/andrea.ravignani/www.researchgate.net/profile/Mauricio_Martins4/http://homepage.univie.ac.at/tecumseh.fitch/
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ravignani
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Biology,University of Vienna,A-1090 Vienna,Austria.andrea.ravignani@univie.ac.atmauricio.martins@univie.ac.attecumseh.fitch@univie.ac.athttp://homepage.univie.ac.at/andrea.ravignani/www.researchgate.net/profile/Mauricio_Martins4/http://homepage.univie.ac.at/tecumseh.fitch/
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Biology,University of Vienna,A-1090 Vienna,Austria.andrea.ravignani@univie.ac.atmauricio.martins@univie.ac.attecumseh.fitch@univie.ac.athttp://homepage.univie.ac.at/andrea.ravignani/www.researchgate.net/profile/Mauricio_Martins4/http://homepage.univie.ac.at/tecumseh.fitch/
authors.forename: W Tecumseh
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Fitch
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D011323:Primates / Q000502:physiology*; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*