Acoustic Patterns of Infant Vocalizations Expressing Emotions and Communicative Functions

Papaeliou, Christina F.; Minadakis, George; Cavouras, Dionisis

doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2002/024)

Cited by 42 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In some species, the structure of particular calls varies predictably with the context in which the calls are emitted (Norcross & Newman, 1993;Rendall et al, 1999;Crockford & Boesch, 2003;Wich et al, 2003;Slocombe & Zuberbuhler, 2005a,b). While variation in vocalizations and their association with behavioral contexts has been extensively studied in primates (e.g., Green, 1975;Hauser, 1991;Norcross & Newman, 1993;Hammerschmidt & Todt, 1995;Papaeliou et al, 2002;Crockford & Boesch, 2003;Notman & Rendall, 2005;Slocombe & Zuberbuhler, 2005a;Patel & Owren, 2007), relatively little research of this nature has been done on other animals (but see Leger et al, 1979;Insley, 1992;Brown & Farabaugh, 1997;McCowan & Reiss, 2001;Pongracz et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources of variation in the long-distance vocalizations of spotted hyenas

Theis

Greene

Benson‐Amram

et al. 2007

Behav

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SummaryIt has long been recognized that vocal signals communicate information about the age, sex and affective state of callers. However, the mechanisms by which these types of information are communicated are less well understood. Here we investigated variation in the acoustic properties of the long-distance vocalizations, called 'whoops', emitted by free-living spotted hyenas, Crocuta crocuta. Specifically we investigated whether the fundamental frequency, length and rate of whoops provide information about the caller's age, sex and/or level of arousal. We determined the latter by contrasting whoops emitted spontaneously with whoops emitted during periods of social excitement, when callers typically also exhibited visual signals associated with heightened arousal. We found that the minimum fundamental frequency of a whoop provides reliable information about the caller's general age and, for adult callers, information about sex as well. The vast majority of adult male whoop bouts were emitted spontaneously, but juveniles and adult females produced many of their bouts during periods of social excitement. Although context did not significantly affect the whoop bouts of adult females, juvenile bouts emitted during social excitement had higher maximum fundamental frequencies, greater proportions of asymmetric whoop subtypes, and reduced inter-whoop intervals. By reducing the inter-whoop intervals of bouts, juvenile hyenas significantly increased the likelihood that conspecifics would respond to whoops by approaching the caller or its social companion. Peak fundamental frequency and the relative abundance of whoop subtypes did not appreciably affect response. We discuss the potential functions of whooping by juvenile and adult hyenas in light of these findings.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources of variation in the long-distance vocalizations of spotted hyenas

Theis

Greene

Benson‐Amram

et al. 2007

Behav

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“…The existence of functional flexibility in human infant vocalization as well as its significance as a foundation for language has been largely ignored in the past because research on vocal development has focused heavily on discerning meaning in infant expression and thus on determining consistent rather than flexible functions (especially expressions of emotional state) for the seemingly disorganized vocalizations of infancy (56,57). There previously has been no direct comparison illustrating the functional flexibility of protophones versus the functional fixedness of cry and laughter.…”

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confidence: 99%

Functional flexibility of infant vocalization and the emergence of language

Oller

Buder

Ramsdell

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

177

254

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We report on the emergence of functional flexibility in vocalizations of human infants. This vastly underappreciated capability becomes apparent when prelinguistic vocalizations express a full range of emotional content-positive, neutral, and negative. The data show that at least three types of infant vocalizations (squeals, vowel-like sounds, and growls) occur with this full range of expression by 3-4 mo of age. In contrast, infant cry and laughter, which are speciesspecific signals apparently homologous to vocal calls in other primates, show functional stability, with cry overwhelmingly expressing negative and laughter positive emotional states. Functional flexibility is a sine qua non in spoken language, because all words or sentences can be produced as expressions of varying emotional states and because learning conventional "meanings" requires the ability to produce sounds that are free of any predetermined function. Functional flexibility is a defining characteristic of language, and empirically it appears before syntax, word learning, and even earlier-developing features presumed to be critical to language (e.g., joint attention, syllable imitation, and canonical babbling). The appearance of functional flexibility early in the first year of human life is a critical step in the development of vocal language and may have been a critical step in the evolution of human language, preceding protosyntax and even primitive single words. Such flexible affect expression of vocalizations has not yet been reported for any nonhuman primate but if found to occur would suggest deep roots for functional flexibility of vocalization in our primate heritage.esearch on evolution and development of language has been devoted primarily to syntax, the uniquely human capacity to produce well-formed complex sentences (1-4). Additional work has targeted the emergence of simpler communicative structures and thus has shifted attention back in evolutionary time to an earlier possible split of hominins from the primate background. For example, research has considered the presumably earlier evolution of simple sentences or "protosyntax" (5). Other work influenced by recent trends in evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) (6, 7) has focused on infrastructure for language, invoking capabilities logically more foundational even than protosyntax and presumably moving the communicative differentiation of hominins from other primates much farther back. For example, symbolic expression in single words beginning in modern human development at about 12 mo is a precursor to even the simplest syntax (8). Moving the evolutionary focus even farther back in time, joint attention-infant pointing with gaze alternation between an object and an adult interactor, occurring before the end of the first year-is deemed a critical precursor to words (9). Similarly, canonical babbling (onset at about 7 mo) is a crucial step toward verbal vocabulary because development and imitation of canonical syllables (e.g., "baba") is required for extensive word lear...

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“…Diversas investigaciones han descrito evidencias de una asociación temprana entre prosodia y función comunicativa: relacionando registros tonos ascendentes con clac 68/2016, 350-379 romero: vocalizaciones 360 funciones imperativas (o con demanda de algún tipo de intervención), vocalizaciones que expresan funciones comunicativas con menor duración y valores de frecuencia fundamental más bajos que aquellas que expresan solo emociones o diferencias de patrón prosódico y duración entre las vocalizaciones comunicativas y no comunicativas (D'Odorico & Franco, 1991;Flax et al, 1991;Papaeliou et al 2002;Fernández, 2014).…”

Section: Adquisición De La Competencia Prosódicaunclassified

Interpelación entre vocalizaciones y desarrollo prosódico en funciones comunicativas tempranas

Andonegi

2016

CLAC

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Este estudio explora la intención comunicativa en la relación entre las vocalizaciones y la prosodia en la fase lingüística de una sola palabra. El corpus de análisis lo han constituido los actos comunicativos de seis niños y niñas vascos de entre 1;1 y 1;8 y con lengua materna euskera. El análisis se ha centrado en la producción acústica sobre un total de 675 vocalizaciones extraídos de aproximadamente 3 h. de grabación en casa de los informantes. Los datos extraídos de las grabaciones muestran que (1) las vocalizaciones comunicativas y no comunicativas no se diferencian de forma significativa a partir de su contorno entonativo final, (2) las funciones comunicativas tempranas se diferencian por su contorno entonativo final, destacando las funciones imperativas y fáticas por su asociación con las tonalidades ascendentes. Palabras clave: Gestos tempranos, prosodia, adquisición del lenguaje, intencionalidad comunicativa, función comunicativa, vasco

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Acoustic Patterns of Infant Vocalizations Expressing Emotions and Communicative Functions

Cited by 42 publications

References 18 publications

Sources of variation in the long-distance vocalizations of spotted hyenas

Sources of variation in the long-distance vocalizations of spotted hyenas

Functional flexibility of infant vocalization and the emergence of language

Interpelación entre vocalizaciones y desarrollo prosódico en funciones comunicativas tempranas

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