Birds might show how humans learn speech

From The University of Chicago:

Researchers at the University of Chicago are studying communication in animals to improve their understanding of how language develops in humans and how they use it.

“We find compelling evidence that language is a phenomenon of evolutionary biology and within the reach of biological investigation,” write biologist Daniel Margoliash and psychologist Howard Nusbaum in “Language: The Perspective from Organismal Biology,” an opinion piece in the current issue of the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

The two researchers challenge the position held by other scholars, including language theorist Noam Chomsky, that the way people develop language is uniquely human and unrelated to communication systems in other animals. In that theory, the ability to speak is contained in a “black box” in the brain and can be opened by informal contact as a baby begins recognizing sounds or a toddler begins speaking.

Recent research, including studies at the University on songbirds, questions that position and argues for inclusion of evolutionary biology as a means of learning more about how language develops. Songbirds also show a human-like capacity to learn complex vocal patterns, the researchers have found.

Margoliash and Nusbaum's research worked with European Starlings. Perhaps that decreases some of the EUST hatred that so many birders hold?

Photo courtesy of South Dakota Birds and Birding

Students compete in 42nd annual bird-calling contest

I always knew the folks up in Northern California are a little... different. This proves that teenagers who live near Berkeley take bird calls to a higher level.

Big bird Aaron Macholl-Stanley and his buddies Shaheen Axtle and Derek DeRoche were part of the flock of bird callers willing to make feathered fools of themselves at Piedmont High's 42nd annual bird-calling contest.

The threesome took second place in the competition, which may win them a spot on "Late Night with David Letterman," a dandy perk for a bunch of high school students.

The man himself, Letterman, will review the videotape of Friday's contest, and choose three or four callers to appear on his show later this month, according to the contest's producer, Amy Booker.

Follow that link to watch an amusing audio slide show.

Photo courtesy of Contra Costa Times