How do they talk?

[jessdecutie18]

Does anyone have a scientific (but not too complex lol) link on how parrots develop the skill of communication? How they can understand what some words are, and learn to repeat what they hear. It would be helpful!

 

Thanks

[particle77]

I can't point you to a link, but if a book is acceptable, "The Alex Studies" covers many aspects of this subject very well.

[Dave007]

African Grays are well known for their exceptional talking abilities but the method of doing that is not the same as people. This is due to the musculature design of their throats. (Contrary to popular belief parrots do not have "voice boxes." They talk similar to the way a human would whistle. Consequently, a parrot's ability to mimic sounds precisely depends on the number and development of muscles in the throat.)All the grumbling that parrots make is development of muscles aimed at a certain word/phrase. Greys are also quite the "thinkers." When learning to talk, they will typically listen to you very carefully before attempting to speak. They don't have the ability to talk over you. Simple repition, both orally and physically and visually is how they learn to say * see you later* as you're leaving the house as long as you say it first. Eventually, the bird beats you to the punch when you're leaving.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/09/28 06:55

[ecodweeb]

Dr. Irene Pepperbeg's other book, ALex & Me, talked briefly about some tests that were performed before Alex's death where they tried to answer that very question: how do they make the vocalizations?

 

They used some fancy machine and it couldn't tell a difference in Alex's spoken word and a human's, despite Alex using a different method to actually speak the word.

 

Also on the note of using words correctly; I have a talkative female who is still new to the home. For a while she was known for saying some not so nice things at an appropriate time when she was ticked off. Such as "step up" (a foreign concept to her) results in a bite and "b**ch," and for a while there when she saw me she'd just whistle and say "A**h***e" .... fortunately we've moved beyond this stage in our relationship, but we don't use that kind of language in their presence, so it had to have been learned from the previous home(s), the fact that she used it appropriately, however, still stuns me.

 

She's also said "Hello Butch!" when her favorite human, Butch, comes to the cage. She'll just say Hello to everyone else, tho she's been less talkative as of late. I think she's been too busy with her new cage, and she's been gurgling a lot so she must be practicing new vocalizations... hopefully nice things this time!

[Luvparrots]

My year old grey has been making all kinds of new sounds in her throat and the things she does know have been coming out with different inflections. Thanks Dr. Flock for the explanation!