The “Law of Brevity” in animal communication: Sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than duration
Abstract The efficiency of informational transfer is one of the key aspects of any communication system. The informational coding economy of human languages is often demonstrated by their almost universal fit to Zipf's “Law of Brevity,” expressing negative relationship between word length and i...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2019-12-01
|
Series: | Evolution Letters |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.147 |
id |
doaj-577de2e2fe1d45a28ce6837f75155cb4 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-577de2e2fe1d45a28ce6837f75155cb42020-11-25T02:53:18ZengWileyEvolution Letters2056-37442019-12-013662363410.1002/evl3.147The “Law of Brevity” in animal communication: Sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than durationVlad Demartsev0Naomi Gordon1Adi Barocas2Einat Bar‐Ziv3Tchia Ilany4Yael Goll5Amiyaal Ilany6Eli Geffen7Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz 78464 GermanySchool of Zoology Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv 6997801 IsraelSan Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research Escondido California 92027Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology Ben‐Gurion University Midreshet Ben‐Gurion 8499000 IsraelRembrandt 11 Street Tel Aviv 64045 IsraelSchool of Zoology Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv 6997801 IsraelFaculty of Life Sciences Bar‐Ilan University Ramat‐Gan 5290002 IsraelSchool of Zoology Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv 6997801 IsraelAbstract The efficiency of informational transfer is one of the key aspects of any communication system. The informational coding economy of human languages is often demonstrated by their almost universal fit to Zipf's “Law of Brevity,” expressing negative relationship between word length and its usage frequency. Animal vocal systems, however, provided mixed results in their adherence to this relationship, potentially due to conflicting evolutionary pressures related to differences in signaling range and communicational needs. To examine this potential parallel between human and animal vocal communication, and also to explore how divergent, sex‐specific, communicational settings affect signaling efficiency within a species, we examined the complete vocal repertoire of rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis). As male and female hyraxes differ in their sociality levels and male hyraxes vocal repertoire is dominated by sexual advertisement songs, we hypothesized that sex‐specific vocal repertoires could be subjected to different signaling optimization pressures. Our results show that the sexes differ in repertoire size, call usage, and adherence to coding efficiency principles. Interestingly, the classic call length/call usage relationship is not consistently found in rock hyraxes. Rather, a negative relationship between call amplitude and call usage is found, suggesting that the efficiency of the vocal repertoire is driven by call amplitude rather than duration. We hypothesize that, in contrast to human speech that is mainly intended for short distance, the need for frequent long‐range signaling shapes an animal's vocal repertoire efficiency according to the cost of call amplitude rather than call length. However, call duration may be a secondary factor affecting signaling efficiency, in cases where amplitude is under specific selection pressures, such as sexual selection.https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.147Animal communicationLaw of Brevityvocal coding efficiencyvocal repertoire |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Vlad Demartsev Naomi Gordon Adi Barocas Einat Bar‐Ziv Tchia Ilany Yael Goll Amiyaal Ilany Eli Geffen |
spellingShingle |
Vlad Demartsev Naomi Gordon Adi Barocas Einat Bar‐Ziv Tchia Ilany Yael Goll Amiyaal Ilany Eli Geffen The “Law of Brevity” in animal communication: Sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than duration Evolution Letters Animal communication Law of Brevity vocal coding efficiency vocal repertoire |
author_facet |
Vlad Demartsev Naomi Gordon Adi Barocas Einat Bar‐Ziv Tchia Ilany Yael Goll Amiyaal Ilany Eli Geffen |
author_sort |
Vlad Demartsev |
title |
The “Law of Brevity” in animal communication: Sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than duration |
title_short |
The “Law of Brevity” in animal communication: Sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than duration |
title_full |
The “Law of Brevity” in animal communication: Sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than duration |
title_fullStr |
The “Law of Brevity” in animal communication: Sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than duration |
title_full_unstemmed |
The “Law of Brevity” in animal communication: Sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than duration |
title_sort |
“law of brevity” in animal communication: sex‐specific signaling optimization is determined by call amplitude rather than duration |
publisher |
Wiley |
series |
Evolution Letters |
issn |
2056-3744 |
publishDate |
2019-12-01 |
description |
Abstract The efficiency of informational transfer is one of the key aspects of any communication system. The informational coding economy of human languages is often demonstrated by their almost universal fit to Zipf's “Law of Brevity,” expressing negative relationship between word length and its usage frequency. Animal vocal systems, however, provided mixed results in their adherence to this relationship, potentially due to conflicting evolutionary pressures related to differences in signaling range and communicational needs. To examine this potential parallel between human and animal vocal communication, and also to explore how divergent, sex‐specific, communicational settings affect signaling efficiency within a species, we examined the complete vocal repertoire of rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis). As male and female hyraxes differ in their sociality levels and male hyraxes vocal repertoire is dominated by sexual advertisement songs, we hypothesized that sex‐specific vocal repertoires could be subjected to different signaling optimization pressures. Our results show that the sexes differ in repertoire size, call usage, and adherence to coding efficiency principles. Interestingly, the classic call length/call usage relationship is not consistently found in rock hyraxes. Rather, a negative relationship between call amplitude and call usage is found, suggesting that the efficiency of the vocal repertoire is driven by call amplitude rather than duration. We hypothesize that, in contrast to human speech that is mainly intended for short distance, the need for frequent long‐range signaling shapes an animal's vocal repertoire efficiency according to the cost of call amplitude rather than call length. However, call duration may be a secondary factor affecting signaling efficiency, in cases where amplitude is under specific selection pressures, such as sexual selection. |
topic |
Animal communication Law of Brevity vocal coding efficiency vocal repertoire |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.147 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT vladdemartsev thelawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT naomigordon thelawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT adibarocas thelawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT einatbarziv thelawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT tchiailany thelawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT yaelgoll thelawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT amiyaalilany thelawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT eligeffen thelawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT vladdemartsev lawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT naomigordon lawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT adibarocas lawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT einatbarziv lawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT tchiailany lawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT yaelgoll lawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT amiyaalilany lawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration AT eligeffen lawofbrevityinanimalcommunicationsexspecificsignalingoptimizationisdeterminedbycallamplituderatherthanduration |
_version_ |
1724725476408164352 |