The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think

by Jennifer Ackerman

Alarms calls are a prime example. Not only are they functionally referential—working like words do to describe the characteristics of an object—but according to a few recent studies, they may also show some key linguistic features of human language. Compositional syntax, for instance, the set of rules for arranging and combining sound and words to create meaningful phrases and sentences. In language, it matters how we order our words—and how we combine them to form more complex messages. In English, watch out makes sense; out watch does not. We thought only humans used syntax in this way. But Toshitaka Suzuki has found that Japanese tits seem to use these sorts of linguistic rules in their alarm calls. The tits have a repertoire of eleven different notes, which they use alone or in combination with other notes, resulting in more than 175 different call types, and listening tits respond accordingly.