1. Human Language vs Animal System of Communication
It is generally believed that human beings are the sole species capable of developing language thanks to their intelligence and appropriate structure of the vocal tract. It is clear, however, that animals are also capable of communicating in their own way, for instance, bees by tail-wagging, or whales by 'singing'. Yet, there are certain apparent differences in human and animal ways of conveying messages, which we will look at in today’s lecture. Many features common to all natural human languages have been proposed but in some cases it seems that animal means of communication possesses some partially developed characteristics which are generally believed to be unique to human beings.
Like human beings animals also communicate with one another through their communication systems which are called animal languages such as language of dolphins, language of bees. Animals have both discrete and non-discrete systems of communication but their messages as well as symbols are limited in quantity and dimension. On the other hand, human languages are much more surprisingly unlimited. Now we will discuss differences between human language and animal communication.
The communication systems of most animals are instinctive. They inherit them genetically. None can separate animals from their inbuilt qualities. On the contrary, human language is non-instinctive. Humans can acquire and learn any thing and any language as a result of social interaction. For example, a baby and a puppy are growing up in the same environment hearing mostly the same thing. But about two years later the baby will make human noises while the puppy will not. In addition, Mowgli in the Jungle Book grew up in the animal environment and his communication systems became like animals.
Because of its having arbitrariness, human language is conditioned by geography- its culture, social and natural environment. The linguistic sign of the same object may differ from one geographical region to another. For example, what is called by the English to be ‘dog’ is called ‘perro’ by the Spanish, ‘sobaka’ by the Russian and ‘inee’ by the Japanese. On the other hand animal communication is not conditioned by geography. For instance, the dogs of all countries have the same system of message and symbols.
Animal communication is devoid of ‘novelty’, ‘creativity’ and ‘multiplicity’ to produce apt utterances according to different situations. Most animals have limited number of messages or symbols they can send or receive. While human language possesses the qualities. A human being can even in a most unlikely situation utter a sentence which has never been said before and if can still be understood.
Human language is extendable and modifiable. The symbol or linguistic sign used in a language a hundred years ago may be extended, changed and even may not be used any more. But animal communication is opposite to this. For example, the bees and the monkeys use even now-a-days the same communication system which they used, say, five thousand years ago.
‘‘Duality and displacement-the organization of language into two layers, and the ability to talk about objects and events- are extremely rare in the animal world. No animal communication system has both these features, (Jean Aitchison, Linguistics: an Introduction; 1995:18). Humans produce sounds by the organs of speech, a rare gift of nature. No other species except apes and monkeys have been endowed with this gift.
Other distinctions which can also be explained are given in the following manner:
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Human language
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Animal communication system
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1
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has grammaticality
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has no grammaticality
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2
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descriptive and narrative
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non- descriptive and narrative
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3
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recurrent
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repetitive
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4
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cognitive as well as behavioral
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only behavioral
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5
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open system
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close system
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6
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structure dependent
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not structure dependent
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