01847nas a2200253   4500008004100000022001300041245006100054210006100115260001600176300001400192490000800206520094800214653001501162653001201177653003001189653002301219653002801242653001201270653001401282653001701296100002501313700002201338856023301360       2018                        eng d  a0003347200aWorking hypotheses on the meaning of general alarm calls0 aWorking hypotheses on the meaning of general alarm calls  cJan-08-2018  a113 - 1180 v1423 a<p>General calls are present in the vocal repertoire of a great number of animal species. Because of their lack of context specificity, they are typically argued to possess blurred meaning, or even no meaning at all. Although recent animal cognition studies have demonstrated a growing interest in these vocalizations, there is currently no clear definition of general calls, and their meaning is seldom discussed. Here, we propose a definition of general calls, and review various hypotheses regarding their meaning, focusing on alert contexts. We first discuss the hypothesis that general alarm calls have a general alert meaning. Second, we review an alternative view, that general calls in fact have a specific meaning. With this review, we encourage further research that could help delve into the mechanisms underlying vocal production and comprehension and would improve our understanding of general and specific calls in animals.</p>
10aalarm call10acontext10afunctional referentiality10ageneral alarm call10ainformativity principle10aMeaning10asemantics10avocalization1 aDezecache, Guillaume1 aBerthet, Mélissa  uhttps://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003347218301908https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0003347218301908?httpAccept=text/xmlhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0003347218301908?httpAccept=text/plain02344nas a2200229   4500008004100000022001400041245016000055210006900215260001600284300001400300490000700314520158400321653002301905653001901928653001201947653001901959653001301978653001701991100002002008700003102028856005502059       2016                        eng d  a1435-944800aThe vocal repertoire of the domesticated zebra finch: a data-driven approach to decipher the information-bearing acoustic features of communication signals0 avocal repertoire of the domesticated zebra finch a datadriven ap  cJan-03-2016  a285 - 3150 v193 a<p>Although a universal code for the acoustic features of animal vocal communication calls may not exist, the thorough analysis of the distinctive acoustical features of vocalization categories is important not only to decipher the acoustical code for a specific species but also to understand the evolution of communication signals and the mechanisms used to produce and understand them. Here, we recorded more than 8000 examples of almost all the vocalizations of the domesticated zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata: vocalizations produced to establish contact, to form and maintain pair bonds, to sound an alarm, to communicate distress or to advertise hunger or aggressive intents. We characterized each vocalization type using complete representations that avoided any a priori assumptions on the acoustic code, as well as classical bioacoustics measures that could provide more intuitive interpretations. We then used these acoustical features to rigorously determine the potential information-bearing acoustical features for each vocalization type using both a novel regularized classifier and an unsupervised clustering algorithm. Vocalization categories are discriminated by the shape of their frequency spectrum and by their pitch saliency (noisy to tonal vocalizations) but not particularly by their fundamental frequency. Notably, the spectral shape of zebra finch vocalizations contains peaks or formants that vary systematically across categories and that would be generated by active control of both the vocal organ (source) and the upper vocal tract (filter).</p>
10aAcoustic signature10aclassification10aMeaning10aRegularization10aSongbird10avocalization1 aElie, Julie, E.1 aTheunissen, Frédéric, E.  uhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10071-015-0933-6