- TOKYO (AFP) - Pet birds can not only imitate sounds, they can distinguish
between languages, potentially offering new clues on how the brain recognizes
speech, Japanese researchers say.
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- It has already been confirmed that monkeys,
mice and other mammals can recognize different languages but this is the
first time that birds have been found to possess the ability, the Mainichi
Shimbun newspaper reported.
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- A research team exposed Java Sparrows
to English and Chinese translations recorded by exchange students of two
well-known Japanese novels, "The Tale of Genji" and Natsume Soseki's
"I Am a Cat."
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- A bird sitting on a perch first listened
to the English version and was only allowed to eat afterward. Then the
researchers played English and Chinese recordings randomly and only allowed
the bird to eat after hopping onto the perch with the English.
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- The birds correctly identified the English
recording 75 percent of the time. The same results were achieved with another
two birds that were permitted to eat only when Chinese was played.
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- "Humans are able to distinguish
between languages, even ones they don't know, from the intonation and pronunciation,
and it seems that paddy birds have the same ability," said Keio University
experimental psychology professor Shigeru Watanabe, who led the research.
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- "If we study common traits in brain
structure, this may shed light on the mechanisms of speech recognition,"
Watanabe was quoted as saying by the Mainichi Shimbun.
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- Watanabe said paddy birds like the Java
Sparrow and parakeets, which are skilled vocally, learn sounds unique to
their species after becoming adults, suggesting that they have a high ability
to distinguish between sounds.
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- The researchers did not use Japanese
because it was the language the birds normally listened to, the newspaper
said.
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