Song Syllables Research Articles

Tarjamat al-Aghani al-Indunisiyah Ila al-‘Arabiyah Ala Dhou’i al-Shoutiyyat al-‘Arabiyah

With the widespread use of social media, particularly the YouTube platform, it has emerged as one of the most significant phenomena in the current digital landscape. It serves not only as a medium for sharing and accessing visual content but also as a space for various forms of creativity, innovation, invention, and information. Its extensive use is evident in the rapidly increasing amount of content covering diverse topics such as entertainment, product reviews, and education, including the delivery of learning materials, learning activities, instructional models, and even song translations from one language to another. The purpose of this study is to analyze errors in the translation of syllables (maqtha’) in Indonesian songs translated into Arabic on several YouTube channels. The approach used in this research is qualitative with a descriptive-analytical method. The main data sources are translated song lyrics from the channels “Kampung Arab Al-Azhar” and “Inspirasi Arabia”, both focusing on the same theme, namely “Mungkin”. Secondary sources include books, magazines, journals, and scholarly articles closely related to the topic. Data collection methods utilized include observation and documentation on one of the relevant YouTube channels. The research findings indicate that Arabic phonetics play a crucial role in translating Indonesian songs into Arabic to maintain the beauty of the target language by ensuring syllable harmony between the source and target languages.

The hidden fitness of the male zebra finch courtship song.

Vocal learning in songbirds is thought to have evolved through sexual selection, with female preference driving males to develop large and varied song repertoires1-3. However, many songbird species learn only a single song in their lifetime4. How sexual selection drives the evolution of single-song repertoires is not known. Here, by applying dimensionality-reduction techniques to the singing behaviour of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), we show that syllable spread in low-dimensional feature space explains how single songs function as honest indicators of fitness. We find that this Gestalt measure of behaviour captures the spectrotemporal distinctiveness of song syllables in zebra finches; that females strongly prefer songs that occupy more latent space; and that matching path lengths in low-dimensional space is difficult for young males. Our findings clarify how simple vocal repertoires may have evolved in songbirds and indicate divergent strategies for how sexual selection can shape vocal learning.

Organization of song of the Yellow-rumped flycatcher (<i>Ficedula zanthopygia</i>, Muscicapidae, Aves)

Birdsong consists of stereotypical song types or syllables which follow each other according to certain rules. Based on these rules, linear and combinatorial syntaxes are identified. The former one implies a fixed sequence of song types repeated cyclically. In the combinatorial syntax, there are clusters of song types, within which song types may be performed in a varying sequence. The structure and organization of birdsong have been described for many species, but still remain unexplored for most of them. We studied for the first time the song structure and organization, as well as song sharing for the Yellow-rumped flycatcher Ficedula zanthopygia (Hay, 1845). First of all, we determined the repertoire of song types in each male. Then, the organization of singing was analyzed using methods of information theory and network analysis. To analyze the patterns of song sharing, we compared all song types of all males. Individual repertoires consisted from 8–31 song types. While singing, male flycatchers avoid repeating the same song type two or more times in a row (continuous variety). At the same time, different song types alternate with a much degree of freedom: we did not reveal any patterns which could indicate the presence of either linear or combinatorial syntax. Males generally shared few song types, and the similarity of the repertoires of any two males was small. Besides, males did not preferably use shared or individual (i.e., found in the only one male) song types. Song sharing was not related to the distance between males. The results were compared to what is known about the song structure and organization of the other three Ficedula species studied to date.

Self-organization of songbird neural sequences during social isolation.

Behaviors emerge via a combination of experience and innate predispositions. As the brain matures, it undergoes major changes in cellular, network, and functional properties that can be due to sensory experience as well as developmental processes. In normal birdsong learning, neural sequences emerge to control song syllables learned from a tutor. Here, we disambiguate the role of tutor experience and development in neural sequence formation by delaying exposure to a tutor. Using functional calcium imaging, we observe neural sequences in the absence of tutoring, demonstrating that tutor experience is not necessary for the formation of sequences. However, after exposure to a tutor, pre-existing sequences can become tightly associated with new song syllables. Since we delayed tutoring, only half our birds learned new syllables following tutor exposure. The birds that failed to learn were the birds in which pre-tutoring neural sequences were most 'crystallized,' that is, already tightly associated with their (untutored) song.

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) demonstrate cognitive flexibility in using phonology and sequence of syllables in auditory discrimination

Zebra finches rely mainly on syllable phonology rather than on syllable sequence when they discriminate between two songs. However, they can also learn to discriminate two strings containing the same set of syllables by their sequence. How learning about the phonological characteristics of syllables and their sequence relate to each other and to the composition of the stimuli is still an open question. We compared whether and how the zebra finches’ relative sensitivity for syllable phonology and syllable sequence depends on the differences between syllable strings. Two groups of zebra finches were trained in a Go-Left/Go-Right task to discriminate either between two strings in which each string contained a unique set of song syllables (‘Different-syllables group’) or two strings in which both strings contained the same set of syllables, but in a different sequential order (‘Same-syllables group’). We assessed to what extent the birds in the two experimental groups attend to the spectral characteristics and the sequence of the syllables by measuring the responses to test strings consisting of spectral modifications or sequence changes. Our results showed no difference in the number of trials needed to discriminate strings consisting of either different or identical sets of syllables. Both experimental groups attended to changes in spectral features in a similar way, but the group for which both training strings consisted of the same set of syllables responded more strongly to changes in sequence than the group for which the training strings consisted of different sets of syllables. This outcome suggests the presence of an additional learning process to learn about syllable sequence when learning about syllable phonology is not sufficient to discriminate two strings. Our study thus demonstrates that the relative importance of syllable phonology and sequence depends on how these features vary among stimuli. This indicates cognitive flexibility in the acoustic features that songbirds might use in their song recognition.

Brief Discussion on the Function of Padding Syllables in Chinese Hakka Folk Songs: A Case Study of "Fame of Hakka Folk Songs"

Brief Discussion on the Function of Padding Syllables in Chinese Hakka Folk Songs: A Case Study of "Fame of Hakka Folk Songs"

Polychotomous traits and evolution under conformity

Conformist and anticonformist transmission of dichotomous cultural traits (i.e., traits with two variants) have been studied both experimentally, in many species, and theoretically, with mathematical models. Signatures of types of conformity to polychotomous traits (with more than two variants; e.g., baby names and syllables in bird song) have been inferred from population-level data, but there are few models that include individual-level biases among more than two discrete variants. We generalize the standard dichotomous trait conformity model by Boyd and Richerson to incorporate [Formula: see text] role models and [Formula: see text] variants. Our analysis shows that in the case of [Formula: see text] role models, under anticonformity, the central polymorphic equilibrium [Formula: see text] is globally stable, whereas under conformity, if initially the frequencies of [Formula: see text] variants are all equal to the maximum variant frequency in the population, there is global convergence to an equilibrium in which the frequencies of these variants are all [Formula: see text] and all other variants are absent. With a general number n of role models, the same result holds with conformity, whereas under anticonformity, global convergence is not guaranteed, and there may be stable frequency cycles or chaos. If both conformity and anticonformity occur for different configurations of variants among the n role models, a variety of novel polymorphic equilibria may exist and be stable. Future empirical studies may use this formulation to directly quantify an individual's level of (anti)conformist bias to a polychotomous trait.

Tonality over a broad frequency range is linked to vocal learning in birds.

Many birds emit tonal song syllables even though the sound sources generate sound with rich upper harmonic energy content. This tonality is thought to arise in part from dynamically adjusted filtering of harmonic content. Here, we compare tonality of song syllables between vocal learners and non-learners to assess whether this characteristic is linked to the increased neural substrate that evolved with vocal learning. We hypothesize that vocal learning ability is correlated with enhanced ability for generating tonal sounds, because vocal production learners might also have an enhanced ability to articulate their vocal tracts and sound source for producing tonality. To test this hypothesis, we compared vocal learners and non-learners from two groups (186 passerines and 42 hummingbirds) by assessing tonality of song syllables. The data suggest that vocal learners in both clades have evolved to sing songs with higher tonality than the related, non-vocal learning clades, which is consistent with stronger roles for broadband dynamic filtering and adjustments to the sound source. In addition, oscine songs display higher tonality than those of hummingbirds. A complex interplay of vocal tract biomechanics, anatomical differences of the sound source as well as increased motor control through vocal learning facilitates generation of broad tonality.

Deviants Are Detected Faster at the End of Verse-Like Sound Sequences.

Songs and poems from different traditions show a striking formal similarity: lines are flexible at the beginning and get more regular toward the end. This suggests that the free-beginning/strict-end pattern stems from a cognitive bias shared among humans. We propose that this is due to an increased sensitivity to deviants later in the line, resulting from a prediction-driven attention increase disrupted by line breaks. The study tests this hypothesis using an auditory oddball task where drum strokes are presented in sequences of eight, mimicking syllables in song or poem lines. We find that deviant strokes occurring later in the line are detected faster, mirroring the lower occurrence of deviant syllables toward the end of verse lines.

Expression of FoxP2 in the basal ganglia regulates vocal motor sequences in the adult songbird

Disruption of the transcription factor FoxP2, which is enriched in the basal ganglia, impairs vocal development in humans and songbirds. The basal ganglia are important for the selection and sequencing of motor actions, but the circuit mechanisms governing accurate sequencing of learned vocalizations are unknown. Here, we show that expression of FoxP2 in the basal ganglia is vital for the fluent initiation and termination of birdsong, as well as the maintenance of song syllable sequencing in adulthood. Knockdown of FoxP2 imbalances dopamine receptor expression across striatal direct-like and indirect-like pathways, suggesting a role of dopaminergic signaling in regulating vocal motor sequencing. Confirming this prediction, we show that phasic dopamine activation, and not inhibition, during singing drives repetition of song syllables, thus also impairing fluent initiation and termination of birdsong. These findings demonstrate discrete circuit origins for the dysfluent repetition of vocal elements in songbirds, with implications for speech disorders.

Different frequency control mechanisms and the exploitation of frequency space in passerines.

Birdsong is used in reproductive context and, consequently, has been shaped by strong natural and sexual selection. The acoustic performance includes a multitude of acoustic and temporal characteristics that are thought to honestly reveal the quality of the singing individual.One major song feature is frequency and its modulation. Sound frequency can be actively controlled, but the control mechanisms differ between different groups. Two described mechanisms are pressure‐driven frequency changes in suboscines and control by syringeal muscles in oscines.To test to what degree these different control mechanisms enhance or limit the exploitation of frequency space by individual species and families, we compared the use of frequency space by tyrannid suboscines and emberizid/passerellid oscines.We find that despite the different control mechanisms, the songs of species in both groups can contain broad frequency ranges and rapid and sustained frequency modulation (FM). The maximal values for these parameters are slightly higher in oscines.Furthermore, the mean frequency range of song syllables is substantially larger in oscines than suboscines. Species within each family group collectively exploit equally broadly the available frequency space.The narrower individual frequency ranges of suboscines likely indicate morphological specialization for particular frequencies, whereas muscular control of frequency facilitated broader exploitation of frequency space by individual oscine species.

Songbirds are excellent auditory discriminators, irrespective of age and experience

Human infants but not adults possess the ability to perceive differences between non-native language phoneme categories. The predominant explanation for this age-related decline in discriminative ability is the effect of statistical learning driven by sensory exposure: phoneme categories of the native language take precedence, have a higher frequency of occurrence and may encompass category distinctions in non-native languages. Alternatively, one could explain the decline through a reduction in discriminative abilities attributable to ageing. Thus, to what extent is auditory perception influenced either by experience or by age-related processes? Here, we attempted to answer this question, which cannot easily be disentangled in humans, in songbirds, which share many properties with humans: both learn the statistical distribution of sounds in their environment, both possess neural circuits to process vocalizations of their own species and plasticity in these circuits is subject to critical periods. To study the effects of experience and ageing, we trained zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata , to discriminate short from long versions of a single zebra finch song syllable type. Birds in four groups distinguished by their age (old versus young) and level of auditory experience (with song experience versus completely isolated from song) could learn to discriminate arbitrarily fine differences between song syllables, although we found a trend that upholds the statistical learning hypothesis: birds with song experience performed better than birds with no experience. Furthermore, birds in all groups were able to generalize their learning to new stimuli of the same type, and they were able to rapidly adapt their learned discrimination boundaries. Finally, we found that songbirds could accurately discriminate randomly selected renditions of a stereotyped adult song syllable, revealing a flexible ability to discriminate conspecific vocalizations. • Sensory experience matters more than age for auditory perception in songbirds. • Songbirds generalize learned categories to novel stimuli. • Learned categories are flexible and category boundaries can be relearned easily. • Songbirds can learn random categories accurately. • Their auditory systems represent species-specific sounds accurately and flexibly.

Behavioural response to songs between genetically diverged allopatric populations of Darwin's small tree finch in the Galápagos.

Empirical data that identify contemporary mechanisms of divergence shed light on how species could multiply. In this study, we measured population genetic structure, song syllable diversity and response to simulated intruder song in Darwin's small tree finch (Camarhynchus parvulus) on Santa Cruz and Floreana Islands, Galápagos archipelago. Our aim was to test whether the magnitude of contemporary behavioural response in resident birds was consistent with patterns of genetic or cultural differences between populations. We analysed genetic structure and the occurrence of song syllable types, and experimentally measured the response of resident birds to intruder bird song from different geographical origin (i.e., island) or syllable type. We discovered a weak signal of population genetic structure between Santa Cruz and Floreana Islands. Although some song syllables occurred on both islands, others were unique to each island; Santa Cruz Island males used more unique syllables than Floreana Island males. Both Santa Cruz and Floreana resident males discriminated their response towards a simulated intruder song based on the geographical origin of the intruder song, but not on the syllable type sung by the intruder. We conclude that the populations are diverging in genetic and cultural traits and identified a signal of contemporary behavioural response that could maintain divergence upon secondary contact.

Discrimination of natural acoustic variation in vocal signals

Studies of acoustic communication often focus on the categories and units of vocalizations, but subtle variation also occurs in how these signals are uttered. In human speech, it is not only phonemes and words that carry information but also the timbre, intonation, and stress of how speech sounds are delivered (often referred to as “paralinguistic content”). In non-human animals, variation across utterances of vocal signals also carries behaviorally relevant information across taxa. However, the discriminability of these cues has been rarely tested in a psychophysical paradigm. Here, we focus on acoustic communication in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), a songbird species in which the male produces a single stereotyped motif repeatedly in song bouts. These motif renditions, like the song repetitions of many birds, sound very similar to the casual human listener. In this study, we show that zebra finches can easily discriminate between the renditions, even at the level of single song syllables, much as humans can discriminate renditions of speech sounds. These results support the notion that sensitivity to fine acoustic details may be a primary channel of information in zebra finch song, as well as a shared, foundational property of vocal communication systems across species.

The Singing Behaviour of the Long-Tailed Shrike (Lanius schach erythronotus)

The singing behavior of the long-tailed shrike was described for the first time with one male as the example. Song recordings (total duration 44.2 min) obtained from this individual in southern Kazakhstan between May 24 and June 16, 2007, were analyzed. Call bouts (3–282 s long, median duration 52 s, n = 18) and song bouts (6–202 s long, median duration 67 s, n = 22) alternated in the male’s advertising vocalization. The bird’s repertoire included 13 types of calls. Each call bout included one or several call types. The song bouts consisted of song syllables, with 143 types of syllables identified in the male’s entire repertoire. Each song syllable belonged to one of eleven “themes,” with 3 to 33 (median 8) syllable types per “theme.” The male produced the syllables from a certain theme before eventually introducing a new theme during singing.

Actor-critic reinforcement learning in the songbird.

It feels rewarding to ace your opponent on match point. Here, we propose common mechanisms underlie reward and performance learning. First, when a singing bird unexpectedly hits the right note, its dopamine (DA) neurons are activated as when a thirsty monkey receives an unexpected juice reward. Second, these DA signals reinforce vocal variations much as they reinforce stimulus-response associations. Third, limbic inputs to DA neurons signal the predicted quality of song syllables much like they signal the predicted reward value of a place or a stimulus during foraging. Finally, songbirds may solve difficult problems in reinforcement learning - such as credit assignment and catastrophic forgetting - with node perturbation and consolidation of reinforced vocal patterns in motor cortical circuits. Consolidation occurs downstream of a canonical 'actor-critic' circuit motif that learns to maximize performance quality in essentially the same way it learns to maximize reward: by computing and learning from prediction errors.

Statistical learning of transition patterns in the songbird auditory forebrain

Statistical learning of transition patterns between sounds—a striking capability of the auditory system—plays an essential role in animals’ survival (e.g., detect deviant sounds that signal danger). However, the neural mechanisms underlying this capability are still not fully understood. We recorded extracellular multi-unit and single-unit activity in the auditory forebrain of awake male zebra finches while presenting rare repetitions of a single sound in a long sequence of sounds (canary and zebra finch song syllables) patterned in either an alternating or random order at different inter-stimulus intervals (ISI). When preceding stimuli were regularly alternating (alternating condition), a repeated stimulus violated the preceding transition pattern and was a deviant. When preceding stimuli were in random order (control condition), a repeated stimulus did not violate any regularities and was not a deviant. At all ISIs tested (1 s, 3 s, or jittered at 0.8–1.2 s), deviant repetition enhanced neural responses in the alternating condition in a secondary auditory area (caudomedial nidopallium, NCM) but not in the primary auditory area (Field L2); in contrast, repetition suppressed responses in the control condition in both Field L2 and NCM. When stimuli were presented in the classical oddball paradigm at jittered ISI (0.8–1.2 s), neural responses in both NCM and Field L2 were stronger when a stimulus occurred as deviant with low probability than when the same stimulus occurred as standard with high probability. Together, these results demonstrate: (1) classical oddball effect exists even when ISI is jittered and the onset of a stimulus is not fully predictable; (2) neurons in NCM can learn transition patterns between sounds at multiple ISIs and detect violation of these transition patterns; (3) sensitivity to deviant sounds increases from Field L2 to NCM in the songbird auditory forebrain. Further studies using the current paradigms may help us understand the neural substrate of statistical learning and even speech comprehension.

Optimal spectral templates for triggered feedback experiments.

In the field of songbird neuroscience, researchers have used playback of aversive noise bursts to drive changes in song behavior for specific syllables within a bird's song. Typically, a short (~5-10 msec) slice of the syllable is selected for targeting and the average spectrum of the slice is used as a template. Sounds that are sufficiently close to the template are considered a match. If other syllables have portions that are spectrally similar to the target, false positive errors will weaken the operant contingency. We present a gradient descent method for template optimization that increases the separation in distance between target and distractors slices, greatly improving targeting accuracy. Applied to songs from five adult Bengalese finches, the fractional reduction in errors for sub-syllabic slices was 51.54±22.92%. At the level of song syllables, we use an error metric that controls for the vastly greater number of distractors vs. target syllables. Setting 5% average error (misses + false positives) as a minimal performance criterion, the number of targetable syllables increased from 3 to 16 out of 61 syllables. At 10% error, targetable syllables increased from 11 to 26. By using simple and robust linear discriminant methods, the algorithm reaches near asymptotic performance when using 10 songs as training data, and the error increases by <2.3% on average when using only a single song for training. Targeting is temporally precise, with average jitter of 3.33 msec for the 16 accurately targeted syllables. Because the algorithm is concerned only with the problem of template selection, it can be used as a simple and robust front end for existing hardware and software implementations for triggered feedback.

Do songbirds hear songs syllable by syllable?

Songbirds as vocal learners have been one of the most popular model species to investigate the biological prerequisite to human language. Their songs consist of syllables, which appear as pulse trains in sound spectrograms. When describing the song sequence, researchers consider the syllable to be the unit of the song. Moreover, artificial grammar learning studies asking whether songbirds recognize structural regularities observed in human language often design stimuli using song syllables as components. However, whether syllables are perceptual units is yet to be determined. We found that Bengalese finches, a species of songbird, responded significantly less to one specific syllable when it was temporally placed close to the preceding syllable. The proximity, or silent interval was within the range of what is produced in the natural songs of both Bengalese and zebra finches, and what has been used in other artificial grammar learning studies using zebra finches. Our results suggest the need for a reinterpretation of the description of birdsong structure and of previous artificial grammar learning studies.

Manipulations of inhibition in cortical circuitry differentially affect spectral and temporal features of Bengalese finch song.

The interplay between inhibition and excitation can regulate behavioral expression and control, including the expression of communicative behaviors like birdsong. Computational models postulate varying degrees to which inhibition within vocal motor circuitry influences birdsong, but few studies have tested these models by manipulating inhibition. Here we enhanced and attenuated inhibition in the cortical nucleus HVC (used as proper name) of Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica). Enhancement of inhibition (with muscimol) in HVC dose-dependently reduced the amount of song produced. Infusions of higher concentrations of muscimol caused some birds to produce spectrally degraded songs, whereas infusions of lower doses of muscimol led to the production of relatively normal (nondegraded) songs. However, the spectral and temporal structures of these nondegraded songs were significantly different from songs produced under control conditions. In particular, muscimol infusions decreased the frequency and amplitude of syllables, increased various measures of acoustic entropy, and increased the variability of syllable structure. Muscimol also increased sequence durations and the variability of syllable timing and syllable sequencing. Attenuation of inhibition (with bicuculline) in HVC led to changes to song distinct from and often opposite to enhancing inhibition. For example, in contrast to muscimol, bicuculline infusions increased syllable amplitude, frequency, and duration and decreased the variability of acoustic features. However, like muscimol, bicuculline increased the variability of syllable sequencing. These data highlight the importance of inhibition to the production of stereotyped vocalizations and demonstrate that changes to neural dynamics within cortical circuitry can differentially affect spectral and temporal features of song.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We reveal that manipulations of inhibition in the cortical nucleus HVC affect the structure, timing, and sequencing of syllables in Bengalese finch song. Enhancing and blocking inhibition led to opposite changes to the acoustic structure and timing of vocalizations, but both caused similar changes to vocal sequencing. These data provide support for computational models of song control but also motivate refinement of existing models to account for differential effects on syllable structure, timing, and sequencing.