Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Liberman 4
Liberman 4
Linguistic Variation
2/05/2002
Variation across human
languages
• Navajo vs. English
– Vocabulary, morphology, grammar
– Culture
• Navajo Code Talkers
– USMC WWII battlefield encryption
– Small dictionary + general translation
2/05/2002
Variation within English
• Read the first few paragraphs of this link, and
listen to the 11 examples of American
dialects.
Ask yourself to identify:
– sex
– age
– region
– class
• How accurate do you think you are?
2/05/2002
Human linguistic variation in biological
perspective
2/05/2002
Gibbons
• Arboreal apes
– tropical rain forests of southeast asia
– 12 species in four (sub-)genera
• subgenera are somewhat more different
than humans and chimps
– brachiation
– monogamy
• like 3% of mammal species
• 90% of bird species
2/05/2002
Gibbons and us:
Primate Phylogeny
Among the apes, only gibbons and humans have pair bonding.
Also, only gibbons and humans sing…
2/05/2002
Gibbon duetting
All species of gibbons are known to produce elaborate,
species-specific and sex-specific patterns of vocalisation
often referred to as "songs" (Haimoff, 1984; Marshall &
Marshall, 1976). Songs are loud and complex and are
mainly uttered at specifically established times of day. In
most species, mated pairs may characteristically
combine their songs in a relatively rigid pattern to
produce coordinated duet songs. Several functions have
been attributed to gibbon songs, most of which
emphasise a role in territorial advertisement, mate
attraction and maintenance of pair and family bonds
(Geissmann, 1999; Geissmann & Orgeldinger in press;
Haimoff, 1984; Leighton, 1987).
2/05/2002
The female “great call”
The most prominent song contribution of female gibbons
consists of a loud, stereotyped phrase, the great call.
Depending on species, great calls typically comprise
between 6-100 notes, have a duration of 6-30 s. The
shape of individual great call notes and the intervals
between the notes follow a species-specific pattern.
. A female song bout is usually introduced by a variable but
simple series of notes termed the introductory sequence;
it is produced only once in a song bout. Thereafter, great
calls are produced with an interval of about 2 min. In the
intervals, [are] so-called interlude sequences consisting
of shorter, more variable phrases … The typical female
song bout hence follows the sequential course
ABCBCBCBC…,
2/05/2002
Male duet contributions
As a rule, adult males do not produce great calls, but "male short
phrases" only. Whereas female great calls remain essentially
unchanged throughout a song bout, males gradually build up their
phrases, beginning with single, simple notes. As less simple notes
are introduced, these notes are combined to increasingly complex
phrases, reaching the fully developed form only after several minutes
of singing …
During duet songs, mated males and females combine their song
contributions to produce complex, but relatively stereotyped vocal
interactions… Both pair partners contribute to an introductory
sequence at the beginning of the song bout (A). Thereafter, interlude
sequences (B) and great call sequences (C) are produced in
successive alternation…
During great call sequences the male becomes silent and does not
resume calling until near or shortly after the end of the female's great
call, when he will produce a coda.
2/05/2002
Gibbon song samples
• Hylobates Lar
– white-handed gibbon
– Female “great call”
with male “coda”
• Hylobates Muelleri
– gray gibbon
– Female “great call”
with male “coda”
2/05/2002
H. Lar
Hybrid Songs
H. Muelleri x H. Lar:
H. Lar x H. Muelleri:
H. Muelleri:
2/05/2002
Phylogeny of singing in primates
2/05/2002
--Terence Deacon, “The Symbolic Species”
Gular sac
2/05/2002
Zebra Finch
(Taeniopygia guttata)
2/05/2002
Song learning
in Zebra Finches and other oscines
2/05/2002
Why learned songs?
• Some sub-oscine species have completely
programmed song
– deafened or isolated birds sing normally
• Suggested advantages of learned song:
– more complex or varied song via cultural rather than genetic
development
• females prefer constrained novelty
• promotes exogamy in large colonies
– intra-species varients of song, called dialects, may serve to
segregate populations of the same species
• promotes endogamy in microhabitats
– more rapid adaptation of the song to different acoustic
environments
2/05/2002
Humpback Whale Songs
• Samples:
• Variation and change:
– At any one time, all whales sing similar
songs
– Over time, songs change rapidly
2/05/2002
How do behaviors evolve?
2/05/2002
Example:
Strategies for the “Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma”
2/05/2002
The “prisoner’s dilemma” paradox
Origin: situation of captured thieves
– if everybody keeps silent, all go free
– if one confesses
• (s)he gets a reward
• everyone else gets a heavy sentence
– if everyone confesses
• everyone gets a moderate sentence
If you analyze the options objectively, your best bet is to confess.
But if everyone confesses, everyone is worse off than if
everyone kept silent.
Generically: total cooperation is better than total non-cooperation;
but any individual can then better his or her situation by
“defecting”.
2/05/2002
PD payoff matrix
(payoff to me)
2/05/2002
Consider the options…
• If you defect
– if I cooperate I pay $100
– if I defect I pay $10
– so my best bet is to defect…
• If you cooperate
– if I cooperate I get $300
– if I defect I get $500
– so my best bet is to defect…
2/05/2002
PD without money or cops:
the “furry critter’s dilemma”
2/05/2002
Conclusion: nice guys finish last
2/05/2002
Axelrod’s innovation
(1984)
2/05/2002
Payoff matrix for Axelrod’s game
2/05/2002
First try
2/05/2002
Second try
2/05/2002
More results
2/05/2002
Evolving PD strategies
• Strategies as pseudochromosomes
– 4 possible outcomes at each stage of the game
– 4 x 4 x 4 = 64 possible 3-move “histories”
– To determine how to act in each of these 64 cases
requires 64 specification of “C” (cooperate) or “D”
(defect)
– Thus a PD “gene” is a string of 64 C’s or D’s
– Add 6 more to cover the first 3 moves
– Total of 70 letters make up a pseudochromosome
2/05/2002
Mutations and mating
2/05/2002
Results: overall population fitness improves
2/05/2002
Gene pool analysis
• Five “alleles” evolved in the vast majority of
individuals:
1. Don’t rock the boat: if RRR then C
2. Be provocable: if RRS then D
3. Accept apologies: if TSR then C
4. Forget: if SRR then C
5. Accept a rut: if PPP then D
– Most of the resulting “individuals”
beat tit-for-tat
2/05/2002
Back to language
2/05/2002