Language of Birds

Dr. Toshitaka Suzuki, an animal linguist at the University of Tokyo, proved that a Japanese bird called the tit uses syntax in its calls. By combining two different sounds, the birds are able to communicate messages such as the location of a food source and a warning to other birds of the presence of a predator. The birds use syntax because the sounds that are combined to produce a message must be used in a specific order.

Dr. Suzuki's research illustrated that the order of the sounds is important to the birds. It is a fundamental aspect of the structure of human language. For example, the sentence "Alex sees Helen" has a different meaning from "Helen sees Alex".

The Japanese tit uses a variety of different calls. One is to signal danger and another is to call other birds. One call warns the birds to approach cautiously because of the presence of a predator, but reversing the other does not produce the same response. This confirms that the birds understand the sequence of the sounds.

This research suggests that the ability to combine sounds into meaningful sequences also exists in birds. In other words, they have the cognitive ability to merge sounds in a specific order. Dr. Suzuki's work proves that they use syntax to communicate with one another.

Poem (Dreams)

 The American poet Langston Hughes wrote the poem Dreams. Here it is:

                                          Dreams

Hold fast to dreams

For if they die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

The poem consists of two stanzas with four verses each. Each verse consists of four syllables, but the third verse of the first stanza has seven, and the third verse of the second has six. The second and four verses of each stanza rhyme.

Langston Hughes expresses the importance of dreams. He compares the death of dreams to a bird that cannot fly and a barren field of snow. Just like the injured bird and the barren field, a life without dreams is a life that is not complete.

Quirky Subject in Icelandic

In Icelandic, the subject is not always in nominative. It is often marked accusative or dative. This type of subject is called a quirky subject, and Icelandic is a language in which it occurs.

The sentence I am cold with the meaning of I feel cold is Mér er kalt in Icelandic. The subject is in dative case. In the sentence I want water, Icelandic uses the accusative case in subject position. The Icelandic sentence is Mig langar í vatn. In both sentences, English uses nominative case, but Icelandic does not.

In English the subject is always marked in nominative case. However, in other languages such as Icelandic, this is not the case. Icelandic has quirky subjects, subjects that are not marked with the nominative case.

May/Must in Danish and Norwegian

Danish and German are both Germanic languages, and they share many similarities. However, sometimes the same word has different meanings in the two languages. One such word is må.

In Norwegian the word means must and in Danish it means may. Here the word may expresses permission and can be replaced with can. Let us illustrate with examples.

The sentence "You must go" is Du skal gå in Danish and Du må gå in Norwegian. Though the sentence is identical in both languages, the meaning is different. To say "You may go" with the meaning of "You have permission to go", Danish uses Du må gå and Norwegian uses Du kan gå.

Though Danish and Norwegian are often very similar, there are significant differences. In certain cases, identical words havc different meanings. This is the case with the Danish word for may and the Norwegian word for must.