How to speak monkey: The language of cotton-top tamarins - Anne Savage

翻译人员: Debroah White 校对人员: Feifei Yan

Living with her family high above the ground

在哥伦比亚北部的热带丛林中

in the northern tropical forests of Colombia,

她和家人住在高高的树上

you will find Shakira,

她叫夏奇拉

a cotton-top tamarin with a penchant for conversation.

一只喜欢喋喋不休的棉顶狨猴

Say, "Hola!"

说“哈喽！"

可能你都没注意到

Though you may not realize it,

this one pound monkey communicates

这种一磅左右的小猴子

用一种非常高级复杂的语言交流

in a highly sophisticated language

of 38 distinct calls

由多达38种不同的叫声组成

based on variations of chirps and whistles.

包含各种啁啾

和哨叫

刚才她给出的回应

The response she just gave is

被称为“B啁啾”

known as a "B chirp",

a call often directed at humans.

一种常用来跟人类打招呼的呼叫

To appreciate the complexities of Shakira's language,

为了一感夏奇拉语言的复杂性

let's learn a few chirps and whistles,

让我们先来了解几个啁啾声和哨叫声

then examine how their combinations

之后再看它们的组合

form grammatically structured sequences.

是怎么形成语法结构序列的

The chirp Shakira used to greet us

夏奇拉用来和我们打招呼的啁啾

comes from a class of calls known as

是由一组音节组成

single frequency modulated syllables.

被称为单频调制音

这组音节由短音音调，比如啁啾

This class is made up of short duration calls, or chirps,

and long duration calls, like screams and squeals.

和长音音调，比如尖叫声，一起组成

研究人员发现

Researchers have determined that there are eight

有8中不同的啁啾

different types of chirps categorized by

stem upsweep, duration, peak frequency, and frequency change.

是根据升调、音长、峰值频率 和频率变化划分出来的

另外，每一种啁啾有它自己独特的含义

In addition, each chirp has its own unique meaning.

For example, Shakira's "C chirp" is used

比如说，当夏奇拉的“C啁啾”

会用在她获取食物的时候

when she is approaching food,

而“D啁啾”

where as her "D chirp" is only used

只有在她手中有食物时才会使用

when she has the food in hand.

单信号哨叫 也在每次呼叫中表达独特的意思

Single whistles also exhibit a unique intention with each call

就如存在着8种不同的啁啾

and just as there are eight different chirps,

there are five different whistles.

哨叫也有5种之分

Based on frequency modulation,

根据频率调制

single whistles are subdivided into four categories:

哨叫也被细分成4个子类：

吱吱声

squeaks, initially modulated whistles,

初始调制哨叫

terminally modulated whistles, and flat whistles.

终极调制哨叫

以及平哨

The language's quality of unique intention

这种语言表达含义时的清晰性

is wonderfully exemplified by the category

完全可以用初始调制哨叫的种类来说明

of initially modulated whistles.

These whistles change based on the proximity

这些哨叫会根据夏奇拉

of Shakira to other members of her family.

与她家人之间的距离远近而改变

If Shakira is greater than .6 meters from her family,

如果夏奇拉与她家人之间的距离 远于 0.6 米

she'll sound a large initally modulated whistle.

她就会发出高度初始调制哨叫

But if she's less than .6 meters from her family,

但如果她与家人的距离小于 0.6 米

she'll sound a small initially modulated whistle.

她就会发出轻度初始调制哨叫

现在我们既然已经了解了几种 啁啾和哨叫

Now that we've learned a few chirps and whistles,

Shakira wants to show off by taking you

夏奇拉灰常想跟你炫耀一下 她的语言功底

through a quick day in her life with these calls.

她要带你体验一下 她从早到晚所发出的声音

While heading towards a feeding tree for her first meal of the day,

当她跳到一棵书上开始她的早餐时

she says, (monkey noise),

她说，(猴子的叫声)

a call most often used in relaxed investigations.

这是一种多用于放松的探查的叫声

However, suddenly she spots the shadow of a hawk.

然而，她突然发觉一直大鹰的影子

"E chirp" for alarm.

她发出报警声“E啁啾"

This call alerts her family to the presence of this predator,

这声音警示她家人：捕食者靠近了！

and Shakira jumps to the safety of an inner branch.

夏奇拉自己也赶紧跳入 密枝深处的安全地带

The coast seems clear,

现在该没事了

so Shakira makes her way towards her dad.

所以夏奇拉向她的爸爸靠近

Wait, wait. Who is that?

等等，等等，那个小家伙是谁？

Ah, it's her younger brother, Carlos.

啊哈，是她的弟弟卡洛斯

棉顶狨猴玩摔跤的时候通常会发出尖叫

Cotton-top tamarins often squeal during play wrestling.

Uh-oh. He's playing a little too roughly, and Shakira screams,

啊哦，卡洛斯有点粗暴了 夏奇拉开始尖叫

alerting her parents to help her.

想让她父母来帮她

Her dad makes his way towards the ball of rolling fur

她爸爸朝着扭打成一团毛球走去

and her brother stops.

她弟弟识相地停了下来

Shakira shakes herself

夏奇拉抖了抖身子

and scratches herself to get the hair on her head

伸手捋了捋她头上的毛

back in place.

恢复她的发型

Then Shakira spots another group of unfamiliar tamarins

之后，夏奇拉发现了另一群 不太熟悉的棉顶狨猴

and hears their normal long call.

听了听它们的长叫

She turns to her family. (Monkey noise)

她转向她的家人(猴子叫声)

Did you catch that? First there was a chirp, then a whistle.

你听出来了吗？首先是个啁啾 然后是个哨叫

这被称为组合发声

This is what's known as a combination vocalization,

a phrase that contains both a chirp and a whistle.

一个由一声啁啾和一声哨叫组成的“短语”

These are two calls strung together to convey a message.

这两声串起来表达一条信息

The combination of these two elements

她把这两个声音元素合在一起

alerts her family to the presence of another group,

通知她的家人另一个群体存在 她用“F啁啾”

the "F chirp", and the distance they are away,

并同时说明这个群体与他们的距离

the normal long call whistle.

她用惯用的长口哨

In other words, Shakira just said a sentence.

换句话说，夏奇拉刚刚说了句话

她这句简单的话只是它们语言的冰山一角

Her simple demonstration is just the tip of the iceberg.

She's got trills, chatters, multiple whistle calls,

她还有有颤音，饶舌，多样的哨叫

more combination vocalizations, even twitters.

更有多种组合发音，甚至有吱吱喳喳

Yet sadly enough, we may not get to hear

然而，让人难过的是，我们可能永远也听不尽

everything she has to say.

她说得每一件事

伴随树木高处啁啾的

Mixed in with chirping sonatas from high above

还有持续不断的砍伐树木的轰隆声

is the constant thud of a machete chopping trees.

夏奇拉在哥伦比亚的家正在被砍伐

Shakira's habitat in Colombia is being cut down,

piece by piece,

一棵又一棵的树倒下

and if we don't work to protect

如果我们不采取行动

the critically endangered cotton-top tamarin,

保护濒临灭绝的棉顶狨猴

it will become extinct in our lifetime.

它们会在我们有生之年绝迹的

If the chirp from one tamarin to the next

如果棉顶狨猴之间的啁啾

has proven to be more than just idle chit chat,

被证明不仅仅是闲聊那么简单

imagine what else we have left to discover.

想象一下还有多少是我们有待发现的

Imagine what else Shakira can tell us.

想象一下夏奇拉还告诉了我们什么