Shijukara (Japanese tit) Has Compositional Syntax - Wow!

This is Nathan Shiga and I have some enchanting episode to share with you - about a bird that communicates as we humans do. Well, here's the story.

It's about Shijukara, Japanese tit or also known as Oriental tit (Parus minor). The species can communicate complex messages by mixing various chirps and there is a definite grammar for mixing them. This is believed to be the first evidence of this nature in non-human animals.

A study group of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies tracked down the evidence after a ten-year-long research on the calls and behaviors of a small wild bird commonly known as Shijukara or Japanese tit living extensively across the country.

Toshitaka Suzuki and his group found out that Shijukaras chirp "peeep-pi" to warn approaching dangers and cry "jijijiji" to call and gather together. When they chirp "peeep-pi/jijijiji", they mean to "get together and drive predators away", report the researchers. The order of the chirps was reversed to "jijijiji/peeep-pi" and there was no reaction - meaning there obviously is a grammar in the chirp order.

Well, it means non-human animals do have syntax in communication and, as earlier said, this is the first evidence ever reported. Suzuki comments:

"We see here a fair possibility of non-human animals could have in their own ways developed linguistic competence. This gives us a cause for further study of other combinations of birds' calls."

Toshitaka Suzuki, PhD in Science, studies acoustic communication in birds, anti-predator adaptation in birds, mixed species flocks and interspecific communication in birds, etc.

His recent publications include: "Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird calls", Nature Communications 7:10986; Referential calls coordinate multi-species mobbing in a forest bird community, Journal of Ethology 34:79 ― 84; Assessment of predation risk through referential communication in incubating birds. Scientific Reports 5:10239, etc.