Population-specific use of the same tool-assisted alarm call between two wild orangutan populations (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) indicates functional arbitrariness [corrected].

Arbitrariness is an elementary feature of human language, yet seldom an object of comparative inquiry. While arbitrary signals for the same function are relatively frequent between animal populations across taxa, the same signal with arbitrary functions is rare and it remains unknown whether, in par...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Adriano R Lameira, Madeleine E Hardus, Kim J J M Nouwen, Eva Topelberg, Roberto A Delgado, Berry M Spruijt, Elisabeth H M Sterck, Cheryl D Knott, Serge A Wich
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3702587?pdf=render