Ontogeny and Function of Primate Vocal Signatures

虽然有证据表明，在几种猴子和猿类中，学习在正确使用某些声音的发展中起着重要作用，但很少有研究表明，叫声的产生具有这种可塑性。本研究探讨了灵长类动物语音交流的发育复杂性。行为数据、磁带记录和计算机辅助光谱将用于研究猪尾猕猴（Macaca nemestrina）声音“特征”的获取和意义。该项目的重点是招募尖叫，这种叫声被发现用于指定动物外部环境中的事件和物体，因此具有基本的语义。在战斗中用于招募盟友的叫声需要了解群体中的亲属关系和统治关系，因此是检验非人类灵长类动物声音行为发展中可能涉及学习的假设的理想选择。这些叫声在它们的声学结构中有“签名”信息，可以用来识别近亲。将对寄养的婴儿进行研究，寻找他们获得养母签名的证据。这项关于猴子声音交流的研究的长期目标是探索灵长类动物行为的认知维度，这可能最终为人类语言的进化起源提供见解。研究结果也有助于更好地理解用于语言习得研究的合适灵长类动物模型的标准。

While there is evidence that learning plays a role in the development of the correct usage of certain vocalizations in several species of monkeys and apes, there are few studies that have demonstrated such plasticity in the production of calls. The present research investigates developmental complexity in primate vocal communication. Behavioral data, tape-recordings, and computer-aided spectrography will be used to study the acquisition and significance of pigtail macaque (Macaca nemestrina) vocal "signatures." The project focuses on recruitment screams, vocalizations that have been found to designate events and objects in the animals' external environment and that thus are rudimentarily semantic. Calls used in the recruitment of allies during fights require knowledge of kinship and dominance relationships in the group and are therefore ideal to test hypotheses that learning may be involved in the development of nonhuman primate vocal behavior. These calls have "signature" information in their acoustic structure that may serve to identify kin groups. Foster-reared infants will be studied for evidence that they acquire the signature of their adoptive matriline. The long-term aim of this research on the vocal communication of monkeys is to explore cognitive dimensions of primate behavior that may ultimately provide insights into the evolutionary origins of human language. Results should also contribute to a better understanding of the criteria for appropriate primate models for studies of language acquisition.