text: Humans aren't the only creatures that string sounds together to convey unique meanings. Research shows chestnut-crowned babbler birds have their own vocabulary. 
   
   Talking birds have long been relegated to the realm of children’s cartoons, but new research shows that Tweety’s vocal observations of puddy tats may not be as unrealistic as we think. 
   
   It was previously thought that humans were the only species that could communicate by stringing together meaningless sounds in order to create meaningful ones. Now, scientists at the Universities of Exeter and Zurich have discovered that a type of bird known as babbler birds do the same thing. 
   
   Researchers found that the highly social chestnut-crowned babbler, which hails from the Australian Outback, has the ability to communicate new meaning by rearranging the meaningless sounds in its calls. This is similar to how humans form meaningful words. 
   
   "Although previous studies indicate that animals, particularly birds, are capable of stringing different sounds together as part of a complex song, these songs generally lack a specific meaning and changing the arrangement of sounds within a song does not seem to alter its overall message," Sabrina Engesser, one of the researchers, said in a press release. 
   
   "In contrast to most songbirds, the chestnut-crowned babblers do not sing,” she explained. “Instead, its extensive vocal repertoire is characterized by discrete calls made up of smaller acoustically distinct individual sounds.” 
   
   Ms. Engesser and her colleagues first noticed that the birds reused two sounds, A and B, in different arrangements while engaging in specific behaviors. A flight call produced while flying, AB, had different meaning than a BAB call produced while feeding chicks. 
   
   While the birds showed that they could tell the difference between the two arrangements by looking at the nests when they heard a feeding call and by looking out for incoming birds when they heard a flight call, they also could tell the difference when the researchers made flight calls from feeding elements and feeding calls from flight elements. This demonstrated that the two calls were rearrangements of the same sounds. 
   
   According to behavioral ecologist and co-author Andy Russell, who has been studying babblers since 2004, the birds may rearrange sounds to code new meaning because “doing so through combining two existing sounds is quicker than evolving a new sound altogether.” 
   
   Researchers say their findings, which are published in the journal PLOS Biology, reveal “a potential early step in the emergence of the elaborate language systems we use today.” 
   
   Talking birds have long been designated to the realm of children’s cartoons, but new research shows that Tweety’s vocal observations of puddy tats may not be as unrealistic as we think. 
   
   It was previously thought that humans were the only species that could communicate by stringing together meaningless sounds in order to create meaningful ones. Now, scientists at the Universities of Exeter and Zurich have discovered that a kind of bird called “babbler birds” do the same thing. 
   
   Researchers found that the highly social chestnut-crowned babbler, which hails from the Australian Outback, has the ability to communicate new meaning by rearranging the meaningless sounds in its calls. This is similar to how humans form meaningful words. 
   
   "Although previous studies indicate that animals, particularly birds, are capable of stringing different sounds together as part of a complex song, these songs generally lack a specific meaning and changing the arrangement of sounds within a song does not seem to alter its overall message," Sabrina Engesser, one of the researchers, said in a press release. 
   
   "In contrast to most songbirds, the chesnut-crowned babblers do not sing,” she explained. “Instead, its extensive vocal repertoire is characterized by discrete calls made up of smaller acoustically distinct individual sounds.” 
   
   Engesser and her colleagues first noticed that the birds reused two sounds, A and B, in different arrangements while engaging in specific behaviors. A flight call produced while flying, AB, had different meaning than a BAB call produced while feeding chicks. 
   
   While the birds showed that they could tell the difference between the two arrangements by looking at the nests when they heard a feeding call and by looking out for incoming birds when they heard a flight call, they also could tell the difference when the researchers made flight calls from feeding elements and feeding calls from flight elements. This demonstrated that the two calls were rearrangements of the same sounds. 
   
   According to co-author Professor Andy Russell, who has been studying babblers since 2004, they believe the birds may rearrange sounds to code new meaning because “doing so through combining two existing sounds is quicker than evolving a new sound altogether.” 
   
   Reserachers say their findings, which are published in the open source journal PLOS Biology, reveal “a potential early step in the emergence of the elaborate language systems we use today.” ||||| Image copyright Jodie Crane Image caption The bird is gregarious and lives in family groups 
   
   A bird can communicate in a similar way to how humans use language, scientists have discovered. 
   
   A study of the chestnut-crowned babbler bird from Australia revealed a method of communicating that has never before been observed in animals. 
   
   The bird combines sounds in different combinations to convey meaning. 
   
   The findings could help in the understanding of how language evolved in humans, researchers report in the online journal PLOS Biology. 
   
   Co-researcher Dr Andy Russell from the University of Exeter said: "It is the first evidence outside of a human that an animal can use the same meaningless sounds in different arrangements to generate new meaning. 
   
   "It's a very basic form of word generation - I'd be amazed if other animals can't do this too." 
   
   Flight call 
   
   Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Babbler bird prompt call 
   
   Babbler birds were found to combine two sounds (known as A and B) to generate calls associated with specific behaviours. 
   
   In flight, they used an "A-B" call to make their whereabouts known, but when alerting chicks to food they combined the sounds differently to make "B-A-B". 
   
   The birds seemed to understand the meaning of the calls. 
   
   When the feeding call was played back to them, they looked at nests, while when they heard a flight call they looked at the sky. 
   
   Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Babbler bird flight call 
   
   Co-researcher Dr Simon Townsend, from the University of Zurich, said: "Although the two babbler bird calls are structurally very similar, they are produced in totally different behavioural contexts and listening birds are capable of picking up on this." 
   
   The findings could aid understanding of how language evolved in the ancestors of humans, he added. ||||| Key element of human language discovered in bird babble 
   
   Stringing together meaningless sounds to create meaningful signals was previously thought to be the preserve of humans alone, but a new study has revealed that babbler birds are also able to communicate in this way. 
   
   Researchers at the Universities of Exeter and Zurich discovered that the chestnut-crowned babbler – a highly social bird found in the Australian Outback – has the ability to convey new meaning by rearranging the meaningless sounds in its calls. This babbler bird communication is reminiscent of the way humans form meaningful words. The research findings, which are published in the journal PLOS Biology, reveal a potential early step in the emergence of the elaborate language systems we use today. 
   
   Lead author Sabrina Engesser from the University of Zurich said: “Although previous studies indicate that animals, particularly birds, are capable of stringing different sounds together as part of a complex song, these songs generally lack a specific meaning and changing the arrangement of sounds within a song does not seem to alter its overall message.” 
   
   “In contrast to most songbirds, chestnut-crowned babblers do not sing. Instead its extensive vocal repertoire is characterised by discrete calls made up of smaller acoustically distinct individual sounds.” she added. 
   
   “We think that babbler birds may choose to rearrange sounds to code new meaning because doing so through combining two existing sounds is quicker than evolving a new sound altogether.” said co-author Professor Andy Russell from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus who has been studying the babblers since 2004. 
   
   The researchers noticed that chestnut-crowned babblers reused two sounds “A” and “B” in different arrangements when performing specific behaviours. When flying, the birds produced a flight call “AB”, but when feeding chicks in the nest they emitted “BAB” prompt calls. 
   
   When the researchers played the sounds back, the listening birds showed they were capable of discriminating between the different call types by looking at the nests when they heard a feeding prompt call and by looking out for incoming birds when they heard a flight call. This was also the case when the researchers switched elements between the two calls: making flight calls from prompt elements and prompt calls from flight elements, indicating that the two calls were indeed generated from rearrangements of the same sounds. 
   
   Co-author Dr Simon Townsend from the University of Zurich said: “This is the first time that the capacity to generate new meaning from rearranging meaningless elements has been shown to exist outside of humans. 
   
   “Although the two babbler bird calls are structurally very similar, they are produced in totally different behavioural contexts and listening birds are capable of picking up on this.” 
   
   The authors report that in the chestnut-crowned babbler, the first sound element “B” is what seems to differentiate the meaning between flight and prompt vocalisations, akin to cat and at in English, where the c represents the meaning differentiating element, or phoneme. 
   
   “Although this so-called phoneme structuring is of a very simple kind, it might help us understand how the ability to generate new meaning initially evolved in humans” added Dr Simon Townsend. “It could be that when phoneme structuring first got off the ground in our hominid ancestors, this is the form it initially took”.
target: – Scientists have discovered a talent never seen outside of humans in a small Australian bird: the ability to string sounds together to convey different meanings. Essentially, "it's a very basic form of word generation," researcher Andy Russell tells the BBC. The team started out by listening to chestnut-crowned babbler birds. Rather than sing, they produce "discrete calls made up of smaller, acoustically distinct individual sounds," an expert says in a press release. Two sounds, identified as "A" and "B," kept getting repeated. For example, the birds used an "AB" call to tell other birds where they were while in flight (listening birds would look to the sky), while a "BAB" call told chicks it was feeding time (listening birds would look at nests). Rearranging the sounds of the flight call to produce the latter call showed no alteration in the birds' behavior, and vice versa, proving the individual sounds were in fact the same. "Although the two babbler bird calls are structurally very similar, they are produced in totally different behavioral contexts and listening birds are capable of picking up on this," a researcher explains. Russell adds, per the Christian Science Monitor, the babblers may communicate this way because it's easier to swap existing sounds than make up new ones. What's perhaps most fascinating is that researchers believe the birds' "B" sound differentiates the meaning of the call. In other words, it's the "c" that discerns the words "cat" and "at" in the English language. Such distinguishing elements are called phonemes, and this basic example "might help us understand how the ability to generate new meaning initially evolved in humans," an expert says. "It could be that when phoneme structuring first got off the ground in our hominid ancestors, this is the form it initially took." Russell says the ability likely exists in other animals. (Learn why these "bachelor" birds could save their species.)