声音模仿_为什么鹦鹉能模仿人类说话，而猩猩却不能？是声道吗？

当你走进一家宠物店，别人对你说“你好”，你刚想回应时，你会惊讶，和你说话的竟然是一只鹦鹉。

你家邻居大爷，养了一只鹦鹉，他对自己鹦鹉能“说话”感到无比自豪。

我们对于鹦鹉模仿人类语言的能力感到非常惊讶的。

我们认为，口语是我们和其他物种最大的区别之一。这是我们最大的进化优势，也是我们天赋，口语体现了我们的智力和复杂的高等学习能力。

当然，其他生物中也有“语言”交流，鲸的歌声、狗的吠叫、蜜蜂的舞蹈，还有植物之间的化学信号，但是，语言，只有人类才能掌握。

鹦鹉虽然能“说话”，并不代表它们智力超群，甚至远远低于人类智力。

再看看我们的“近亲”——灵长类动物，作为我们最亲密的物种，展示了令人印象深刻的认知和类似人类的能力,包括使用工具、笑声、社会组织、种群中要求公平对待等，唯独不具备说出想法的语言能力。

这是否意味着猩猩并不像我们想象的那么伟大，而鹦鹉是我们人类“全球霸主”的继承者?

答案肯定是：不。

灵长类动物、鹦鹉和人类之间存在着生理和心理上的差异，是造成能否使用语言的的关键。我们先看看鹦鹉模仿人类语言的特殊能力。

并不是所有的鹦鹉都能模仿人类的语言，灰鹦鹉、亚马逊鹦鹉、长尾鹦鹉和凤头鹦鹉是我们比较常见的，能模仿我们的语言。

此外，除了鹦鹉，一些鸟类也可以复制人类的声音，包括八哥，琴鸟和鹩哥，鹩哥被认为是世界上模仿最好的鸟类。

说话还是模仿？很关键!

区分模仿还是产生人类语言是很重要的。关于这个问题，仍然存在很大的争论。

鹦鹉对于“语言”是否有认知功能，它们的语言是否来自于对一个单词或者一个句子的理解？

大多数专家认为,一只鸟的词汇主要是基于听觉和声音的复制，至于声音是什么意思，它们根本不理解。

即便如此，鹦鹉在生理、行为和神经方面上仍有优势，我们重点对它们进行研究。

发声装置

鹦鹉和许多其他会说话的鸟类确实具有完成这说话的生理机能。

人类有喉部，是我们通常所说的“音箱”，用来发声；

鸟类在喉部下方的胸部有一个叫做“鸣管”的结构，它也有类似的功能。

当然鹦鹉还有相当灵巧的舌头，在试图说话时，能够操纵它们的呼吸。

优异的神经系统

鹦鹉与其他会说话的鸟相比较，鹦鹉在大脑结构方面确实很突出。

会说话的鸟，大脑都有控制声音学习的特定区域，称为核心，但鹦鹉的核心比较特殊，核心外还有“壳”，环绕着这些声音中心的大脑区域。鹦鹉的语言模仿能力也和这个区域有关。

这个功能区域很早就出现在鹦鹉大脑中，我们通过DNA标记手段对新西兰的啄羊鹦鹉进行研究，结果显示正是这种外壳活动赋予鹦鹉语言模仿的能力，这种鸟的历史可以回溯到3000万年前。

有趣的是，许多编码鹦鹉语音学习的基因也与它们的运动中心有关，这也许可以解释为什么有些鹦鹉会随着音乐“摆动”，看起来像在跳舞!

社交行为

鹦鹉不仅具有学习声音的神经能力和执行语言的生理能力，而且还具有与他人交流和互动的欲望。

鹦鹉试图通过语言来融入群体，语言作为一种社交行为。当它们与我们人类和在一起时，它们试图发出人类的语言，而当它们在野外时，它们通常只能发出鸟类的声音。

此外，只有在感到舒适和有安全感时，鹦鹉才愿意说话，再加上零食等强化这个技能，你的鹦鹉才会“妙语连珠”！

为什么灵长类动物不能说话?

我们已经了解了鹦鹉为什么会说话，以及鹦鹉是如何说话的，那让我们把注意力转向灵长类动物，特别是类人猿。

一直以来，专家认为它们不能说话的原因是因为声道发育不完整，换句话说，如果他们的生理状态能升级，就有可能说话。

150年前，当查尔斯·达尔文首次发表《物种起源》一书时，他提出了不同的观点：猿类的大脑还没有经过必要的进化来获得说话的能力。

这一理论就被很多专家们否定过，但最新的研究表明，他可能是正确的。

利用x射线技术，专家们重建了猕猴和其他物种的声道，并与人类进行了生理上的比较。

研究发现，它们喉咙的物理结构是有可能产生语言的，有产生成千上万个不同单词的生理基础，但猴子仍然局限于尖叫和狂吠。

这表明，数百万年来，在类人猿身上，语言一直是一种身体语言，但不一定是一种认知语言。

这一理论目前在灵长类动物学领域得到了广泛的应用，认为在基本交流手段中表现出类似语言的元素，类人猿却不具备模仿或复制语言的神经控制能力。

大脑的两个关键区域是皮质关联区和脑干核，皮质关联区与人类大脑的高级功能有关，而脑干核与发声所需的肌肉有关。

如果这些区域更大，动物往往拥有更强大的发声系统。如果这些区域更小，往往产生独特声音的能力就会减弱。

在类人猿中，比如倭黑猩猩，可以发出40到50种不同的声音，而且它们的舌头比其他更古老的灵长类动物(长臂猿)有更精细的肌肉运动。

结语

关于类人猿缺乏语言的争论，在灵长类学界仍在继续，研究也不曾停止过。

当我们提起鹦鹉和其他语言模仿的鸟类时，我们必须时刻记住，这只是一个美好的技能，本质上是一种技巧。

鹦鹉非常聪明，可以学会从一数到十，甚至可以识别它们最喜欢的食物，但它们绝大多数的语言只是简单的复制和模仿。

有意识的、有意图的、细致入微的语言仍然是我们人类独有的行为和自我意识。

人类作为地球上强大的群体，语言仍然是我们最大的财富。

英语翻译When you walk into a pet shop, someone says "hello" to you, and you just want to respond, you will be surprised that it is a parrot speaking to you.

Your neighbor, the uncle, has a parrot. He is extremely proud of his parrot being able to "talk".

We are very surprised by the parrot's ability to imitate human language.

We believe that spoken language is one of the biggest differences between us and other species. This is our greatest evolutionary advantage and our talent. Spoken language reflects our intelligence and complex advanced learning ability.

Of course, there are "language" communication in other living things, such as the singing of whales, the barking of dogs, the dance of bees, and the chemical signals between plants. However, only humans can master language.

Although parrots can "talk", it does not mean that they have superior intelligence, or even far lower than human intelligence.

Let’s take a look at our "close relatives"-primates, as our closest species, showing impressive cognition and human-like capabilities, including the use of tools, laughter, social organization, and requirements in the population Treat fairly, but don’t have the language ability to speak out.

Does this mean that orangutans are not as great as we think, and parrots are the heirs of our human "global hegemon"?

The answer is definitely: no.

There are physical and psychological differences between primates, parrots and humans, which are the key to the ability to use language. Let's first look at the special ability of parrots to imitate human language.

Not all parrots can imitate human language. Grey parrots, Amazon parrots, parakeets and cockatoos are more common to us and can imitate our language.

In addition, in addition to parrots, some birds can also replicate human voices, including myna, lyrebird, and mynah. Mynah is considered to be the best imitating bird in the world.

Talking or imitating? Very crucial!

It is important to distinguish between imitation and production of human language. There is still a lot of controversy on this issue.

Do parrots have cognitive functions for "language"? Does their language come from understanding a word or a sentence?

Most experts believe that the vocabulary of a bird is mainly based on the reproduction of hearing and sound. As for the meaning of sound, they do not understand at all.

Even so, parrots still have advantages in physiology, behavior and nerves, and we focus on them.

Sound device

Parrots and many other talking birds do have the physiology to accomplish this speech.

Humans have a larynx, which is what we usually call a "speaker" for sound;

Birds have a structure called "song tube" on the chest below the throat, which also has a similar function.

Of course, parrots also have very clever tongues that can manipulate their breathing when trying to speak.

Excellent nervous system

Compared with other talking birds, parrots are indeed outstanding in terms of brain structure.

In a talking bird, there is a specific area in the brain that controls sound learning, called the core, but the core of the parrot is special, and there is a "shell" outside the core, which surrounds the brain area at the center of these sounds. The parrot's language imitating ability is also related to this area.

This functional area appeared in the parrot's brain for a long time. We studied New Zealand sheep parrots by DNA markers. The results showed that it is this shell activity that gives parrots the ability to imitate language. The history of this bird can be traced back to 3000 Ten thousand years ago.

Interestingly, many genes encoding parrots’ speech learning are also related to their locomotor centers, which may explain why some parrots “swing” to music and look like they are dancing!

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Social behavior

Parrots not only have the neural ability to learn sounds and the physical ability to execute language, but also have the desire to communicate and interact with others.

Parrots try to integrate into the group through language, which is a social behavior. When they are with us humans, they try to speak human language, and when they are in the wild, they usually can only make bird sounds.

In addition, the parrot is only willing to talk when it feels comfortable and safe, and with snacks and other strengthening this skill, your parrot will be "witty words"!

Why can't primates speak?

We have understood why parrots speak and how they speak, so let us turn our attention to primates, especially great apes.

Experts have always believed that the reason they cannot speak is because their vocal tract is not fully developed. In other words, if their physiological state can be upgraded, they may speak.

When Charles Darwin first published the book "Origin of Species" 150 years ago, he made a different point: the ape brain has not yet undergone the necessary evolution to acquire the ability to speak.

This theory has been rejected by many experts, but the latest research shows that he may be correct.

Using X-ray technology, experts reconstructed the vocal tracts of macaques and other species, and compared them with humans.

Studies have found that the physical structure of their throats is likely to produce language, with the physiological basis for producing thousands of different words, but monkeys are still limited to screaming and barking.

This shows that for millions of years, in great apes, language has always been a body language, but not necessarily a cognitive language.

This theory has been widely used in the field of primate zoology. It is believed that the basic communication methods show elements similar to language, but the great apes do not have the neural control ability to imitate or copy language.

The two key areas of the brain are the cortical associated area and the brainstem nucleus. The cortical associated area is related to the advanced functions of the human brain, and the brainstem nucleus is related to the muscles required for sound.

If these areas are larger, animals tend to have more powerful sound systems. If these areas are smaller, the ability to produce unique sounds is often reduced.

Among the great apes, such as bonobos, can make 40 to 50 different sounds, and their tongues have finer muscle movements than other older primates (gibbons).

Conclusion

The debate about the lack of language in great apes continues in primate circles, and research has never stopped.

When we mention parrots and other birds that imitate languages, we must always remember that this is just a beautiful skill, essentially a skill.

Parrots are very smart, they can learn to count from one to ten, and even recognize their favorite food, but most of their language is simply copied and imitated.

Conscious, intentional, and nuanced language is still our unique behavior and self-consciousness.

Human beings are a powerful group on earth, and language is still our greatest asset.