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Updated: Mar 13, 2026

Automated Interactive Video Playback for Studies of Animal Communication
Published on: February 9, 2011
Emotional and Interactional Prosody across Animal Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach to the Emergence of
1Department of Artificial Intelligence, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Brussels, Belgium.
Abstract:
Across a wide range of animal taxa, prosodic modulation of the voice can express emotional information and is used to coordinate vocal interactions between multiple individuals. Within a comparative approach to animal communication systems, I hypothesize that the ability for emotional and interactional prosody (EIP) paved the way for the evolution of linguistic prosody - and perhaps also of music, continuing to play a vital role in the acquisition of language. In support of this hypothesis, I review three research fields: (i) empirical studies on the adaptive value of EIP in non-human primates, mammals, songbirds, anurans, and insects; (ii) the beneficial effects of EIP in scaffolding language learning and social development in human infants; (iii) the cognitive relationship between linguistic prosody and the ability for music, which has often been identified as the evolutionary precursor of language.
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