Do Animal Communication Systems Have Phonemes?
Biologists often ask whether animal communication systems make use of conceptual entities from linguistics, such as semantics or syntax. A new study of an Australian bird species argues that their communication system has phonemes, but we argue that imposing linguistic concepts obscures, rather than clarifyies, communicative function.
Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Daniel L
DL
Bowling
Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: tecumseh.fitch@univie.ac.at.
W Tecumseh
WT
Fitch
D000818:Animals; D020308:Songbirds; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
Language; animal communication; phoneme; phonology; sequence; syntax