Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SEGVOC (Segments in animal vocalizations: A novel approach to understanding non- human vocal behavior)
Reporting period: 2022-02-01 to 2024-01-31
The primary goal of the SEGVOC project is to explore the level of the segment in non-human animals. Because segment research is central to our understanding of human language, any comparative claims about the uniqueness of humans must, at least, consider this unit level in non-humans. Because segments have been largely ignored in animal acoustic communication, the SEGVOC project has great potential for novel research insights and projects. Within this project, the vocalizations of multiple species will be analyzed in order to assess how well segmental models fit animal communication systems. We will also delve deeper into the vocalizations of the budgerigar – a species where we have already fit a segmental model – in order to assess how much explanatory power we have gained and to address questions related to non-human animal phonology (the rules, patterns, production, and perception of segments).
The segmentation algorithm has been converted to python code and a python application implementing the code is near completion. The equipmental setup for the habituation-dishabituation experiments is in its final stages of development and the experimental protocol is complete. Two manuscripts have been written, submitted, and accepted for publication, one of which has already been published.
Due to personal reasons, the SEGVOC project will have to be terminated, so any further results are unlikely before the project end date. Though, several sub-projects were in the final stages of development or were close to generating data. As such, the project may still generate results. In particular, one the software is released, other labs should be able to implement our methods on any number of species. In doing so, we expect a great amount of novel research in non-human animal acoustic communication.