Fig. 1 Methodology for constructing a single vocal tract configuration. Methodology for constructing a single vocal tract configuration. (A) We first made x-ray videos of monkeys and extracted still images of various vocal tract configurations (the example shown is a macaque producing a threat call). (B) We then traced the vocal tract outlines. (C) We used custom Matlab scripts to extract the diameter of the vocal tract along the glottis-to-lip midline (medial axis transform), straightened this diameter function, and converted it to a vocal tract area function. (D) Finally, the resultant area function was used to compute the vocal tract transfer functions for the observed vocal tract configuration [using Flanagan’s lossy tube model (39)], and the first three formant frequencies (F1, F2, and F3) were extracted via peak picking. The set of all 99 vocal configurations, each computed in this fashion, was then used to estimate the monkey’s phonetic space. W. Tecumseh Fitch et al. Sci Adv 2016;2:e1600723 Copyright © 2016, The Authors