Nonadjacent dependency processing in monkeys, apes, and humans

Watson, Stuart K.; Burkart, Judith M.; Schapiro, Steven J.; Lambeth, Susan P.; Mueller, Jutta L.; Townsend, Simon W.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb0725

Cited by 29 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…The fact that chimpanzees have access to local ordering patterns and precedence relationships during spontaneous vocal production supports previous data coming from auditory sound discrimination paradigms in other primates. The latter demonstrate sensitivity to ordering violations between adjacent sound units in artificial strings generated by simple finite-state grammars of the (AB) 2 type 13,16,[73][74][75] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Note that these tasks encode patterning but do not encode meaning as sounds are selected so as to be neutral and devoid of context. Crucially, such positional principles appear to go beyond simple adjacency rules to include the capacity to detect sequence violations across nonadjacent relationships between distinct sound 15,16 or visual 17 units.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chimpanzees use numerous flexible vocal sequences with more than two vocal units: A step towards language?

Girard‐Buttoz

Zaccarella

Friederici

et al. 2021

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A major question in evolutionary science is how did language evolve? Syntax, as the core of language, combines meaning-bearing units (words) into hierarchical structures, thereby creating new meanings. Some other mammals and birds combine meaning-bearing vocalisations, but no documented examples exist of non-human animals combining more than two meaning-bearing vocalisations. Was the two-unit threshold only surpassed in the hominid lineage? Here, we examine the positional patterning of vocal sequences of chimpanzees. We analysed 4826 vocal utterances of 46 wild adult female and male chimpanzees. We found a flexible system with 390 multi-unit vocal sequences, some showing positional or transitional regularities. Two-unit pairs embedded in three-unit sequences predictably occurred either in head or tail positions, and co-occurred with specific other elements. The capacity to organise vocal output beyond the two-unit level may thus exist in species other than humans and could be viewed as an important evolutionary step towards language.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzees use numerous flexible vocal sequences with more than two vocal units: A step towards language?

Girard‐Buttoz

Zaccarella

Friederici

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rawski et al (this issue) revisit our recent findings regarding adjacent and nonadjacent dependency (Non-AD) processing in marmosets and chimpanzees (1). Specifically, they take issue with our interpretation that such experiments are able to shed light on the cognitive building blocks underpinning human syntax.…”

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confidence: 97%

Reply to comment on “Nonadjacent dependency processing in monkeys, apes, and humans”

et al. 2021

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Rawski et al. revisit our recent findings suggesting the latent ability to process nonadjacent dependencies (“Non-ADs”) in monkeys and apes. Specifically, the authors question the relevance of our findings for the evolution of human syntax. We argue that (i) these conclusions hinge upon an assumption that language processing is necessarily hierarchical, which remains an open question, and (ii) our goal was to probe the foundational cognitive mechanisms facilitating the processing of syntactic Non-ADs—namely, the ability to recognize predictive relationships in the input.

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“…Watson et al ( 1 ) provide some important findings about animal pattern recognition abilities that are relevant to the understanding of human language. However, they perpetuate a common misconception that we aim to correct here: They identify nonadjacent dependencies (Non-ADs) in language systems with a language’s syntax.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Animal pattern learning experiments across species examine Non-ADs consistent with human phonology ( 1 , 4 – 6 ). To accurately probe whether nonhuman animals have the capability to discriminate Non-ADs consistent with human syntax, the right experimental contrasts must be drawn, such as those involving hierarchical relations like scope.…”

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confidence: 99%