The nature, function and evolution of signal complexity in animal and human communication systems

我研究了人与动物交流的结构和功能特性。目标是确定影响通信系统演变的一般原则以及支持它们的解剖、行为、感知和认知过程。最终，这将帮助我们理解人类语言的进化，特别是对我们人类来说，这是一个关键事件，对行为、认知和技术具有深远的长期影响，但其时间和诱发因素仍然知之甚少。我主要通过两种方式来解决这些问题：1.通过直接研究当代语言的特定属性，以洞察当前语言的组织及其与行为和认知的联系；2.通过研究其他物种中类似的交流属性，以确定交流系统可以采取的替代可能的组织和进化路径。这笔赠款侧重于信号复杂性的性质、组织和进化，以及它可能植根于人类语言中常见的生物过程，也可能是跨物种的生物过程。其中一项研究考察了在人类中发现的一种新的词形偏见，并开始测试其跨语言流行度以及所涉及的发音和感知过程，这些过程可能促进或限制语音和词汇的多样化，也影响语言的可学性。它还检验了一种新的假设，即人类喉部的下降位置是进化地选择了语音和词汇的多样化，而不是它们的驱动力，这对语言起源的时间选择以及从语言起源产生的行为、文化和认知现象的出现具有更广泛的影响。第二条线的研究侧重于将鸟鸣作为评估信号复杂性的性质和演变的另一种模型。项目侧重于类似的发音和感知因素，潜在地影响鸟鸣中的信号变化。它们还讨论了类似语言的方言过程在刺激区域歌唱和鸟类遗传多样性以及可能的物种形成方面的作用。

I research structural and functional properties of human and animal communication. The goal is to identify general principles affecting the evolution of communication systems and the anatomical, behavioural, perceptual and cognitive processes that support them. Ultimately, this will help us to understand the evolution of human language, in particular, which was a key event for our species with profound long-term consequences for behaviour, cognition and technology but whose timing and precipitating factors remain poorly understood. I tackle these problems in two general ways: 1. By studying specific properties of contemporary language directly to gain insight into the current organization of language and its connections to behavior and cognition, and; 2. By studying similar properties of communication in other species to identify alternative possible organizations and evolutionary paths communication systems can take. This grant focuses on the nature, organization and evolution of signal complexity and the possiblity that it is grounded in biological processes common across human languages and possibly also across species. One line of research examines a novel word form bias identified in humans, and begins to test its cross-language prevalence and the articulatory and perceptual processes involved that might facilitate or constrain phonetic and lexical diversification and also influence language learnability. It also tests a novel hypothesis that the descended position of the larynx in humans was evolutionarily co-opted to phonetic and lexical diversification rather than their driving force, which has broader implications for the timing of language origins and also for the emergence of behavioral, cultural, and cognitive phenomena assumed to flow from it. A second line of research focuses on birdsong as an alternative model for evaluating the nature and evolution of signal complexity. Projects focus on analogous articulatory and perceptual factors potentially influencing signal variety in birdsong. They also address the role of language-like, dialect processes in spurring regional song and genetic diversity in birds and possibly speciation.