Comparing the productive vocabularies of grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) and young children

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68081740%3A_____%2F24%3A00587307" target="_blank" >RIV/68081740:_____/24:00587307 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/00216208:11210/24:10481154 RIV/00216208:11240/24:10481154

Result on the web

<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-024-01883-5" target="_blank" >https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-024-01883-5</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-024-01883-5" target="_blank" >10.1007/s10071-024-01883-5</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Comparing the productive vocabularies of grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) and young children

Original language description

Due to their outstanding ability of vocal imitation, parrots are often kept as pets. Research has shown that they do not just repeat human words. They can use words purposefully to label objects, persons, and animals, and they can even use conversational phrases in appropriate contexts. So far, the structure of pet parrots’ vocabularies and the difference between them and human vocabulary acquisition has been studied only in one individual. This study quantitatively analyses parrot and child vocabularies in a larger sample using a vocabulary coding method suitable for assessing the vocabulary structure in both species. We have explored the composition of word-like sounds produced by 21 grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) kept as pets in Czech- or Slovak-speaking homes, and compared it to the composition of early productive vocabularies of 21 children acquiring Czech (aged 8–18 months), who were matched to the parrots by vocabulary size. The results show that the ‘vocabularies’ of talking grey parrots and children differ: children use significantly more object labels, activity and situation labels, and emotional expressions, while parrots produce significantly more conversational expressions, greetings, and multiword utterances in general. These differences could reflect a strong link between learning spoken words and understanding the underlying concepts, an ability seemingly unique to human children (and absent in parrots), but also different communicative goals of the two species.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

50101 - Psychology (including human - machine relations)

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Animal Cognition

ISSN

1435-9448

e-ISSN

1435-9456

Volume of the periodical

27

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

45

UT code for WoS article

001253470300001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85196725762