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Combinatoriality in the vocal systems of nonhuman animals
Author(s) -
Engesser Sabrina,
Townsend Simon W.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.526
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1939-5086
pISSN - 1939-5078
DOI - 10.1002/wcs.1493
Subject(s) - generative grammar , cognition , identification (biology) , cognitive science , field (mathematics) , convergent evolution , human language , diversity (politics) , language evolution , biology , psychology , evolutionary biology , computer science , ecology , linguistics , artificial intelligence , sociology , neuroscience , phylogenetics , mathematics , biochemistry , philosophy , gene , anthropology , pure mathematics
A key challenge in the field of human language evolution is the identification of the selective conditions that gave rise to language's generative nature. Comparative data on nonhuman animals provides a powerful tool to investigate similarities and differences among nonhuman and human communication systems and to reveal convergent evolutionary mechanisms. In this article, we provide an overview of the current evidence for combinatorial structures found in the vocal system of diverse species. We show that considerable structural diversity exits across and within species in the forms of combinatorial structures used. Based on this we suggest that a fine‐grained classification and differentiation of combinatoriality is a useful approach permitting systematic comparisons across animals. Specifically, this will help to identify factors that might promote the emergence of combinatoriality and, crucially, whether differences in combinatorial mechanisms might be driven by variations in social and ecological conditions or cognitive capacities. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Linguistics > Evolution of Language