Do bats’ social vocalizations conform to Zipf’s law and the Menzerath-Altmann law?
Chunmian Zhang,
Ziqi Zheng,
Jeffrey R. Lucas,
Yicheng Wang,
Xin Fan,
Xin Zhao,
Jiang Feng,
Congnan Sun,
Tinglei Jiang
Affiliations
Chunmian Zhang
Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China; Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
Ziqi Zheng
Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China; Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
Jeffrey R. Lucas
College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, 2888 Xincheng Street, Changchun 130118, China
Yicheng Wang
Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China; Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
Xin Fan
Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China; Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
Xin Zhao
School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, 81 Zhaowuda Road, Hohhot 010022, China
Jiang Feng
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Resource Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Normal University, 2555 Jingyue Street, Changchun 130117, China; Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
Congnan Sun
Hebei Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China; Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environment, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China; Corresponding author
Tinglei Jiang
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Resource Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Normal University, 2555 Jingyue Street, Changchun 130117, China; Corresponding author
Summary: The study of vocal communication in non-human animals can uncover the roots of human languages. Recent studies of language have focused on two linguistic laws: Zipf’s law and the Menzerath-Altmann law. However, whether bats’ social vocalizations follow these linguistic laws, especially Menzerath’s law, has largely been unexplored. Here, we used Asian particolored bats, Vespertilio sinensis, to examine whether aggressive vocalizations conform to Zipf’s and Menzerath’s laws. Aggressive vocalizations of V. sinensis adhere to Zipf’s law, with the most frequent syllables being the shortest in duration. There was a negative association between the syllable number within a call and the average syllable duration, in agreement with Menzerath’s law. A decrease in the proportion of some long syllables and a decrease in the duration of several syllable types in long-duration calls explain the occurrence of this law. Our results indicate that a general compression principle organizes aspects of bat vocal communication systems.
