Daily Bits

  • Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Advertise

June 29, 2011 By noemi Leave a Comment

New Discovery: Birds Tweet Using Grammar

Finches

Finches follow grammar rules when tweeting

That’s more than you can say for many of their human counterparts who tweet in the technological way, yes? 😉

All kidding aside, scientists have found signs that those cute little creatures with feathers have something that resembles grammar as we know. Based on a report published by New Scientist ((Source)), Bengal finches have their own syntax when they chirp, sing, tweet, or whatever you want to call it. While the birds do not have the same concepts that we humans (such as the parts of speech – nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.), they have syntactic structures.

By the way, syntax is defined as the ” is the study of the principles and rules for constructing sentences in natural languages.” ((Wikipedia)) Basically, the birds having a syntax of their own means that they have rules that govern their “speech”. Grammar falls under syntax.

I suppose that this is not a totally new concept and that, in fact, many people have suspected this for the longest time. The breakthrough is that researchers from Kyoto University in Japan have actually found some proof that this suspicion might be true. What the scientists did was to play various songs until the finches got used to them – or understood them. They then jumbled up the syllables in the songs and observed how the finches reacted. What they found out was that only one of the four jumbled up songs made the finches react in an adverse manner. The scientists say that based on the finches’ reactions, it seemed that the particular song broke the birds’ grammar rules – whatever those rules may be. And if you are thinking if it was just coincidence, give the researchers a little more credit, will you? They did the experiment on many birds and they had the same reaction – at least those birds who were exposed to other birds.

That last bit seems to support the idea that the grammar rules are not innate in the finches. They have to learn the rules – just like we humans do.

I don’t know about you, but I find the study – and its results – fascinating. Maybe these birds can teach humans to follow grammar rules a little more on Twitter. You know what I’m saying?

❮❮ Previous Post
Next Post ❯ ❯

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Topics

  • Android Apps (27)
  • Apps (20)
  • Art (11)
  • Browsers (43)
  • Business (4)
  • Cloud Computing (3)
  • Funny Stuff (63)
  • Games (47)
  • General (632)
  • Health (17)
  • Infographic (5)
  • Internet (353)
  • iPad Apps (14)
  • iPhone Apps (43)
  • Media (103)
  • Mobile (197)
  • Music (5)
  • News (7)
  • Online Video (54)
  • Science (18)
  • Search Engines (39)
  • Security (68)
  • Social Networks (184)
  • Software (69)
  • Web 2.0 (43)
  • Web Tools (100)

Recently

  • Thinking of Starting a Tech Company? Some Tips To Follow
  • Some Ideas To Spice Up Bathroom Décor
  • 3 Ways To Use Social Media To Help You Build Better Relationships With Clients
  • Understanding Capital Gains and Capital Assets For Tax Purposes
  • Use Technology To Boost Communication In Your Small Business

Tags

3D printing amazon android Android apps apple apps art cars DIY ebooks facebook Featured firefox gadgets Games google Infographics Internet iPad iphone iPhone app iPhone apps microsoft Mobile mobile phones mozilla music Privacy research robotics robots science science fiction Security social media social networking Social Networks Star Trek technology Twitter video games videos websites yahoo youtube

Copyright © 2019 DailyBits · WordPress · Log in