Birdsong Learning and Culture: Analogies with Human Spoken Language

Abstract

Unlike many species, song learning birds and humans have independently evolved the ability to communicate via learned vocalizations. Both birdsong and spoken language are culturally transmitted across generations, within species-specific constraints that leave room for considerable variation. We review the commonalities and differences between vocal learning bird species and humans, across behavioral, developmental, neuroanatomical, physiological, and genetic levels. We propose that cultural transmission of vocal repertoires is a natural consequence of the evolution of vocal learning and that at least some species-specific universals, as well as species differences in cultural transmission, are due to differences in vocal learning phenotypes, which are shaped by genetic constraints. We suggest that it is the balance between these constraints and features of the social environment that allows cultural learning to propagate and describe new opportunities for exploring meaningful comparisons of birdsong and human vocal culture that focus on the ontogeny of vocal interactivity. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 7 is January 14, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Linking the genomic signatures of human beat synchronization and learned song in birds

“…Our work is situated within a larger literature about zebra finches, as the dominant model organism for vocal learning studies [27]; they have been thoroughly studied for the hierarchical properties of their songs [28]. Crucially, the sensorimotor brain areas involved in song learning and production have recently been found to mediate the timing of vocal interactions [25,29].…”

Neurogenomic insights into the behavioral and vocal development of the zebra finch

“…By tapping into the existing genetic and behavioral diversity of wild and captive lineages in zebra finches (e.g. Forstmeier et al, 2007 ; Knief et al, 2015 ) to perform comparative avian genomic analyses ( Jarvis et al, 2014 ; Feng et al, 2020 ), interspecific hybridization studies ( Woolley and Sakata, 2019 ; Wang et al, 2019 ), and direct genetic manipulations ( Liu et al, 2015 ; London, 2020 ), the zebra finch shall continue to serve as a focal subject of integrative research into human language-like vocal culture ( Hyland Bruno et al, 2021 ), auditory learning ( Theunissen et al, 2004 ), acoustically-mediated social bonding ( Tokarev et al, 2017 ), and genetic ( Balakrishnan et al, 2010 ) and behavioral (e.g. song) variability ( Lansverk et al, 2019 ; see Box 1 ).…”

Evidence for cumulative cultural evolution in bird song

“…Bird songs have many of the characteristics of speech and language: they are learned from conspecific models, consist of sounds that can be divided into distinct categories, and are assembled into sequences that may vary according to syntactic rules on the level of syllables, phrases, songs or bouts [1][2][3][4][5][6]. As do humpback whale songs [7], these socially learned sounds and sequences evolve as a population's songs change over time [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”