The evolution of acoustic size exaggeration in terrestrial mammals

Charlton, Benjamin D.; Reby, David

doi:10.1038/ncomms12739

Cited by 123 publications

(148 citation statements)

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“…It is important to note that while many studies have found a relationship between fundamental frequency and body size in several species (e.g., Bowling et al, 2017;Charlton & Reby, 2016;Gingras, Boeckle, Herbst, & Fitch, 2013;Hauser, 1993;Wallschläger, 1980), others have not (e.g., Patel, Mulder, & Cardoso, 2010;Rendall, Kollias, Ney, & Lloyd, 2005;Sullivan, 1984). As noted by Bowling et al (2017), a relevant factor seems to be the range in body sizes 16 The authors theorize that two separate, but potentially related, processes may be at work.…”

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confidence: 99%

Five mechanisms of sound symbolic association

2017

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Sound symbolism refers to an association between phonemes and stimuli containing particular perceptual and/or semantic elements (e.g., objects of a certain size or shape). Some of the best-known examples include the mil/mal effect (Sapir, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12, 225-239, 1929) and the maluma/takete effect (Köhler, 1929). Interest in this topic has been on the rise within psychology, and studies have demonstrated that sound symbolic effects are relevant for many facets of cognition, including language, action, memory, and categorization. Sound symbolism also provides a mechanism by which words' forms can have nonarbitrary, iconic relationships with their meanings. Although various proposals have been put forth for how phonetic features (both acoustic and articulatory) come to be associated with stimuli, there is as yet no generally agreed-upon explanation. We review five proposals: statistical co-occurrence between phonetic features and associated stimuli in the environment, a shared property among phonetic features and stimuli; neural factors; species-general, evolved associations; and patterns extracted from language. We identify a number of outstanding questions that need to be addressed on this topic and suggest next steps for the field.

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Five mechanisms of sound symbolic association

2017

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“…The size exaggeration hypothesis posits that some taxa evolve to produce vocal signals with much lower fundamental frequency (f 0 ) and/or formant frequency spacing (Δf) than expected for their size (Fitch, 2000a;Charlton and Reby, 2016). This is thought to be a way of exaggerating body size relative to other species, as lower-frequency sounds are generally associated with bigger body size across species Vol.…”

Section: Sexual Selection and The Size Exaggeration Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is thought to be a way of exaggerating body size relative to other species, as lower-frequency sounds are generally associated with bigger body size across species Vol. 126, 2018 (Morton, 1975;Hauser, 1993;Fitch and Hauser, 1998;Fitch, 2010;Charlton and Reby, 2016). By lowering formant frequencies, and formant dispersion, air sacs are likely to play a key role in size exaggeration.…”

Section: Sexual Selection and The Size Exaggeration Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sexual selection and the loss of laryngeal air sacs during the evolution of speech

Dunn

2018

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One noteworthy, but unexplained, aspect of the evolution of human speech is the loss of laryngeal air sacs during hominin evolution. Very little is known about the adaptive significance of this curious trait, or the selection pressures that may have driven the evolution of air sacs among primates, and their later loss in Homo. Here, I review the literature on the loss of laryngeal air sacs during the evolution of speech, and argue that sexual selection may have been a key factor. Although air sacs do not fossilize, the presence or absence of air sacs appears to be correlated with the anatomy of the hyoid bone, and fossil hyoid evidence suggests that air sacs were lost in hominins between 3.3 million and 530000 years ago. Air sacs are hypothesized to have an acoustic function, and some authors have argued that hominins may have lost their air sacs because they would make speech less clear. In other primates, such as gorillas and howler monkeys, air sacs appear to play a role in acoustic size exaggeration and may be linked to reproductive competition. I explore the hypothesis that changes in social organization and mating system towards reduced male-male competition may have relaxed the selection pressure maintaining loud, low-frequency calls in hominins, making air sacs obsolete. While much of the above will remain hypothetical until more concrete data are gathered, we can speculate by saying that air sacs may not have been necessary for the type of quiet vocal interaction that typifies human communication. Perhaps more recent Homo species, with lower levels of sexual dimorphism and increased social tolerance and complexity, began to communicate in a more complex way, eventually leading to spoken language.

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“…This repeated convergent evolution of a descended larynx suggests some consistent selective force, and none of these other mammals produce speechlike variation in formant patterns. The current leading hypothesis is that a descended larynx, by elongating the vocal tract and lowering all formant frequencies, enables callers to mimic the formants of a larger animal and thus to acoustically exaggerate their size (Charlton & Reby 2016, Fitch & Reby 2001. Playback experiments, using resynthesized vocalizations, have verified this "size exaggeration" hypothesis in several species (Charlton et al 2012, Reby et al 2005.…”

Section: Peripheral Components Of Speech Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biology and Evolution of Speech: A Comparative Analysis

Fitch

2018

Annu. Rev. Linguist.

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I analyze the biological underpinnings of human speech from a comparative perspective. By first identifying mechanisms that are evolutionarily derived relative to other primates, we obtain members of the faculty of language, derived components (FLD). Understanding when and why these evolved is central to understanding the evolution of speech. There is little evidence for human-specific mechanisms in auditory perception, and the hypothesis that speech perception is "special" is poorly supported by comparative data. Regarding speech production, human peripheral vocal anatomy includes several derived characteristics (permanently descended larynx, loss of air sacs), but their importance has been overestimated. In contrast, the central neural mechanisms underlying speech production involve crucial derived characteristics (direct monosynaptic connections from motor cortex to laryngeal motor neurons, derived intracortical dorsal circuitry between auditory and motor regions). Paleo-DNA from fossil hominins provides an exciting new opportunity to determine when these derived speech production mechanisms arose during evolution.

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The evolution of acoustic size exaggeration in terrestrial mammals

Cited by 123 publications

References 68 publications

Five mechanisms of sound symbolic association

Five mechanisms of sound symbolic association

Sexual selection and the loss of laryngeal air sacs during the evolution of speech

The Biology and Evolution of Speech: A Comparative Analysis

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