- Title Pages
- Series Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Signal and Functional Flexibility in the Emergence of Communication System: The Editors’ Introduction
- II CROSS-SPECIES PERSPECTIVES ON FORCES AND PATTERNS OF FLEXIBILITY IN COMMUNICATION
- 2 Evolutionary Forces Favoring Communicative Flexibility
- 3 Vocal Learning in Mammals with Special Emphasis on Pinnipeds
- 4 Contextually Flexible Communication in Nonhuman Primates
- 5 Constraints in Primate Vocal Production
- 6 Contextual Sensitivity and Bird Song: A Basis for Social Life
- III THE ROLE OF FLEXIBILITY AND COMMUNICATIVE COMPLEXITY IN THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE
- 7. Contextual Flexibility in Infant Vocal Development and the Earliest Steps in the Evolution of Language
- 8 Scaffolds for Babbling: Innateness and Learning in the Emergence of Contexually Flexible Vocal Production in Human Infants
- 9 Cognitive Precursors to Language
- 10 Language and Niche Construction
- IV UNDERPINNINGS OF COMMUNICATIVE CONTROL: FOUNDATIONS FOR FLEXIBLE COMMUNICATION
- 11 How Apes Use Gestures: The Issue of Flexibility
- 12 The Role of Play in the Evolution and Ontogeny of Contextually Flexible Communication
- V MODELING OF THE EMERGENCE OF COMPLEXITY AND FLEXIBILITY IN COMMUNICATION
- 13 Detection and Estimation of Complexity and Contextual Flexibility in Nonhuman Animal Communication
- 14 The Evolution of Flexibility in Bird Song
- 15 Development and Evolution of Speech Sound Categories: Principles and Models
- Contributors
- Index
The Evolution of Flexibility in Bird Song
The Evolution of Flexibility in Bird Song
- Chapter:
- (p.304) (p.305) 14 The Evolution of Flexibility in Bird Song
- Source:
- Evolution of Communicative Flexibility
- Author(s):
Robert F. Lachlan
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
This chapter, which is concerned with bird song, addresses the versatility of sounds that can be learned, learning accuracy, and functional flexibility of vocalizations in a variety of species. The origins of learning in birds are discussed. The chapter also reviews the accuracy of song learning and theories as to why birds learn accurately. It demonstrates that some species of songbirds react differently when singers produce an accurate imitation of a song type which they themselves have learned. The chapter suggests that songbirds use the great variation in their songs to communicate subtly different messages about the identity of the singer.
Keywords: bird song, sounds, functional flexibility, vocalizations, song learning
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- Title Pages
- Series Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Signal and Functional Flexibility in the Emergence of Communication System: The Editors’ Introduction
- II CROSS-SPECIES PERSPECTIVES ON FORCES AND PATTERNS OF FLEXIBILITY IN COMMUNICATION
- 2 Evolutionary Forces Favoring Communicative Flexibility
- 3 Vocal Learning in Mammals with Special Emphasis on Pinnipeds
- 4 Contextually Flexible Communication in Nonhuman Primates
- 5 Constraints in Primate Vocal Production
- 6 Contextual Sensitivity and Bird Song: A Basis for Social Life
- III THE ROLE OF FLEXIBILITY AND COMMUNICATIVE COMPLEXITY IN THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE
- 7. Contextual Flexibility in Infant Vocal Development and the Earliest Steps in the Evolution of Language
- 8 Scaffolds for Babbling: Innateness and Learning in the Emergence of Contexually Flexible Vocal Production in Human Infants
- 9 Cognitive Precursors to Language
- 10 Language and Niche Construction
- IV UNDERPINNINGS OF COMMUNICATIVE CONTROL: FOUNDATIONS FOR FLEXIBLE COMMUNICATION
- 11 How Apes Use Gestures: The Issue of Flexibility
- 12 The Role of Play in the Evolution and Ontogeny of Contextually Flexible Communication
- V MODELING OF THE EMERGENCE OF COMPLEXITY AND FLEXIBILITY IN COMMUNICATION
- 13 Detection and Estimation of Complexity and Contextual Flexibility in Nonhuman Animal Communication
- 14 The Evolution of Flexibility in Bird Song
- 15 Development and Evolution of Speech Sound Categories: Principles and Models
- Contributors
- Index
