Animal Language

ANIMAL LANGUAGES

The term “animal languages” is often used for non-human systems of communication. Linguists and semioticians do not consider these to be true “language”, but describe them as animal communication on the basis on non-symbolic sign systems, because the interaction between animals in such communication is fundamentally different in its underlying principles from human language. Since animals aren’t born with the ability to reason, there is no true and developed “culture” among animals as it exists in humans. Without this culture, there is no need for complex language. A dog may successfully communicate an aggressive emotional state with a growl, which may or may not cause another dog to keep away or back off. Similarly, when a human screams in fear, it may or may not alert other humans of impending danger. While both of these examples are often successful in terms of communicating a feeling state, they are instinctive, not linguistic, in nature, they are specific to their respective species and do not reflect a complex language system that had been evolved through history.

Nevertheless, some scholars have tried to disprove this mainstream premise through experiments on training chimpanzees to talk. Karl von Frisch received the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his proof of the sign communication and its variants of the bees.

In several publicized instances, non-human animals have been taught to understand certain features of human language. Chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans have been taught hand signs based on American Sign Language. The African Grey Parrot, which possesses the ability to mimic human speech with a high degree of accuracy, is suspected of having sufficient intelligence to comprehend some of the speech it mimics. Though animals can be taught to understand human commands, they are not capable of repeating those commands. Without the ability to reason, animals are also unable to learn the concepts of complex philosophical ideas such as the past and future, which are core fundamentals of complex language. Without this ability, animals are not able to pass these teachings on towards other animals of the same species. Thus, even though we can teach animals to understand aspects of human language, they are unable to develop that language around a culture suitable for them. Humans on the other hand, have been proven to learn languages not native to them, and use those languages as a native speaker would, and pass those along to other members of their native culture.

While proponents of animal communication systems have debated levels of semantics, these systems have not been found to have anything approaching human language syntax.