Language recursion in Starlings

[trehinp]

A very interesting article on the capacity for recursive language. This topic may appear a little bit foreign to Palaeoanthropology, but the link seems to be there in my opinion.

So far it had bee thought that only human beings were capable of recursion in language (Sentences like "My father liked to explain things to us." can become recursive like that : "My father, who was a self made technical engineer, liked to explain things to us.")
New research shows that starlings, which are prodigious singers, are capable of learning sintactic patterns. This enables them to produce recuesive song patterns. This was thought to be only accessible to humans. Click here for more

Birds seem full of surprises with regard to the origins of language. Previous research had shown that the FOX-P2 gene, closely linked to language learning capabilities in human beings, was also present in those birds which learn their songs (as opposed to those who have purely innate songs).

<<When evolutionary geneticists compared the DNA sequence of the normal human FOXP2 gene with nonhuman primates and other species, they found that humans have a specific sequence variation not found in any other mammal, said Jarvis. "Since birdsong is a learned vocal behaviour like speech, we decided to find out if a version with this same variation was present in vocal-learning birds," said Jarvis. >> Click here for more

From that respect, it seems that birds are closer to us human beings than all other primates...

That may have some very serious implications on the way we understand how human language started...

Paul TREHIN

[Daryl Habel]

<<When evolutionary geneticists compared the DNA sequence of the normal human FOXP2 gene with nonhuman primates and other species, they found that humans have a specific sequence variation not found in any other mammal, said Jarvis. "Since birdsong is a learned vocal behaviour like speech, we decided to find out if a version with this same variation was present in vocal-learning birds," said Jarvis. >> Click here for more

But the "same variation" turned out to be not present. Quoting from the same source:

>>Scharff, Jarvis and their colleagues confirmed that all the non-mammals they studied, including crocodiles, did have a FOXP2 gene. And although the genes in humans and song-learning birds were almost identical (98 per cent), the song-learning birds did not have the specific variation characteristic of humans.

>>"Thus, this human-specific mutation is not necessarily required for vocal learning, at least not in birds," said Jarvis. "Or perhaps there's another variation in the songbird gene that also leads to vocal learning."

>>The researchers did find that the FOXP2 gene was expressed in the same area of the brain – called the basal ganglia – in both humans and song-learning birds. And most importantly, the researchers found the FOXP2 gene to be expressed at higher levels in the "vocal learning nucleus of the basal ganglia of song-learners" at times during the bird's life when it is learning song. This critical learning time might either be during early development in the case of zebra finches, or during seasonal changes in song learning, as in canaries.

>>Jarvis emphasised that the discovery of FOXP2 represents only the beginning of a major effort to explore the genetic machinery underlying vocal learning and cautions that it has not been proven that FOXP2 is required for vocal learning.<<

From that respect, it seems that birds are closer to us human beings than all other primates...

That may have some very serious implications on the way we understand how human language started...

Paul TREHIN

Research involving the FOXP2  gene and its possible connection to language learning promises to lead somewhere, but the location of FOXP2 expression at the basal ganglia suggests it is an ancient gene present in the last common ancestor (pre-Mesozoic) of birds and humans.  It is interesting that  the FOXP2 is "expressed at higher levels"  (whatever that means) at times in the bird's life when learning song, but I'm skeptical that FOXP2 tells the "whole story".  As Jarvis is quoted above, this "represents only the beginning of a major effort to explore the genetic machinery underlying vocal learning", and with this, I agree. 

Dar