The contribution of source–filter theory to mammal vocal communication research

Taylor, Anna M.; Reby, David

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00661.x

Cited by 332 publications

(341 citation statements)

References 168 publications

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“…Thus, discussions of possible differences have focused on speech output. The essential functioning of the human lungs, larynx, and tongue is again shared very broadly with other mammals, from bats to elephants, both in terms of anatomy and regarding the physics and physiology of vocal production (Fitch, 2000b;Herbst et al, 2012;Taylor & Reby, 2010). The human tongue is similar in anatomy to that in other apes (Takemoto, 2008), and we now know that a mild descent of the larynx and hyoid bone occurs in chimpanzees (Nishimura, Mikami, Suzuki, & Matsuzawa, 2006).…”

Section: The Shared Foundationsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

2017

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The study of language evolution, and human cognitive evolution more generally, has often been ridiculed as unscientific, but in fact it differs little from many other disciplines that investigate past events, such as geology or cosmology. Well-crafted models of language evolution make numerous testable hypotheses, and if the principles of strong inference (simultaneous testing of multiple plausible hypotheses) are adopted, there is an increasing amount of relevant data allowing empirical evaluation of such models. The articles in this special issue provide a concise overview of current models of language evolution, emphasizing the testable predictions that they make, along with overviews of the many sources of data available to test them (emphasizing comparative, neural, and genetic data). The key challenge facing the study of language evolution is not a lack of data, but rather a weak commitment to hypothesistesting approaches and strong inference, exacerbated by the broad and highly interdisciplinary nature of the relevant data. This introduction offers an overview of the field, and a summary of what needed to evolve to provide our species with language-ready brains. It then briefly discusses different contemporary models of language evolution, followed by an overview of different sources of data to test these models. I conclude with my own multistage model of how different components of language could have evolved.

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Section: The Shared Foundationsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

2017

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“…In animals, formants reflect the characteristics, e.g., length, shape, of the cavities of the anatomical tubes (Taylor and Reby 2010) and can be studied to investigate differences between species (Gamba and Giacoma 2005), or to describe variation in the configurations of the vocal tract during the emission of different call types (Gamba and Giacoma 2007). Formants also correlate with vocal tract length in mammals (Canis familiaris: Riede and Fitch 1999;Cervus elaphus: Reby and McComb 2003) and may represent an indexical cue (Ghazanfar et al 2007) for receivers, thus providing information related to the physical characteristics of the emitter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vocal Tract Morphology Determines Species-Specific Features in Vocal Signals of Lemurs (Eulemur)

2012

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The source-filter theory describes vocal production as a two-stage process involving the generation of a sound source, with its own spectral structure, which is then filtered by the resonant properties of the vocal tract. This theory has been successfully applied to the study of animal vocal signals since the 1990s. As an extension, models reproducing vocal tract resonance can be used to reproduce formant patterns and to understand the role of vocal tract filtering in nonhuman vocalizations. We studied three congeneric lemur species -Eulemur fulvus, E. macaco, E. rubriventer-using morphological measurements to build computational models of the vocal tract to estimate formants, and acoustic analysis to measure formants from natural calls. We focused on call types emitted through the nose, without apparent articulation. On the basis of anatomical measurements, we modeled the vocal tract of each species as a series of concatenated tubes, with a cross-sectional area that changed along the tract to approximate the morphology of the larynx, the nasopharyngeal cavity, the nasal chambers, and the nostrils. For each species, we calculated the resonance frequencies in 2500 randomly generated vocal tracts, in which we simulated intraspecific length and size variation. Formant location and spacing showed significant species-specific differences determined by the length of the vocal tract. We then measured formants of a set of nasal vocalizations ("grunts") recorded from captive lemurs of the same species. We found species-specific differences in the natural calls. This is the first evidence that morphology of the vocal tract is relevant in generating filter-related acoustic cues that potentially provide receivers with information about the species of the emitter.

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“…By applying this framework to the dog's vocal repertoire, we can explore how dogs produce the acoustic features which characterise their different call types. Moreover, we can see how this influences the functional content of different calls and discuss their evolutionary origins (see Taylor & Reby, 2010, for a detailed review of how the source-filter theory can be applied as a generalised conceptual and methodological framework to investigate vocal communication in non-human mammals).…”

Section: How Dogs Produce Vocal Signalsmentioning

confidence: 99%