Open access
Aug 2026
Language-like statistical structure arises in learned signaling: evidence from birdsong
The same tools used to analyze human data and whale song are used to reveal that culturally transmitted Bengalese finch song also has statistically coherent subsequences whose distribution follows a power law, suggesting that core properties of language arise through convergent evolution.
Simon Kirby, Kazuo Okanoya, Ellen C. Garland et al.
· Science Advances · 1 citation