Animals and human language

What are communicative and informative signals? what are the properties of human language? Can other species acquire language?  To answer all these questions, we have to recall what we have learned from chapter 2.

  

  Generally, communicative signals are intentional and carry meaning , whereas the Informative signals are not   intentional but still carry meaning. For example,  when you tell someone i'm here to teach you, then you are consider to be intentional. (intention : i'm a teacher ), but when you say to some one i'm going to school, then its considered as you giving information. (information:  i must be a student). Also , Animals can be informative and communicative too. For example, a bird may suddenly fly away at the approach of a predator (information: we deduce that the bird must be frightened), or A bird may make a loud squawk at the sight of a predator (communication: Hey everyone, lookout! Something is going to eat us!!)

   Now, lets move on to the Properties of Human Language. Basically,  There are six properties.

   Displacement

  Arbitrariness

  Productivity

  Cultural Transmission

  Duality

   

•      1. Displacement: Humans can talk about the past, present and future Yesterday, I saw a movie. Today, I’m staying home. Next week, I’m…. Humans can talk about things that don’t exist or we can’t see.Yesterday, Grandpa went to heaven... Tomorrow, the Tooth Fairy is coming...

•      2. Arbitrariness: There is no natural connection between a word’s form and its meaning but with the possible exception of onomatopoeic words.A written word doesn’t look like its meaning.

•      3.Productivity: Human vocabulary and sentences are infinite, open-ended: We can create new words in our lexicon, like texting, googling, new slang.We have a morphology (word-forming rules) and a grammar (with sentence structure rules) which allow us to combine new words in new structures and Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.

•      4. Cultural Transmission: We acquire our speech from the environment we are raised in, our culture, which includes our language, our accent, our expressions.While a meow is a meow is a meow, wherever; it is instinctual, inborn.Some birds both are born with some calls and songs instinctually and some are learned.

•      5. Duality: Human language is organized at two levels: The sounds (PHONETICS) which carry no

 individual meaning and the combinations of sounds (PHONOLOGY and MORPHOLOGY) which carry meaning. Economical: with a limited number of discrete sounds, we can produce an infinite number of meanings.

  After recalling all thees six properties, now let's answer our last question. Can other species acquire language? when we say  can other species acquire language, we are basically talking about the animal  languages. The animal languages are those forms of animal communication that are similar to human language. Animal communication can be considered complex enough to be called a form of language . Animal communication can also be evidenced through the use of lexigrams, in addition to signs. A lexigram represents a word but is not necessarily indicative of the object referenced by the word. They are symbols that correspond to objects and ideas and have been used by chimpanzee and bonobos to express language. While the term "animal language" is widely used, researchers agree that animal languages are not as complex or expressive as human language.Some researchers including the linguist Charles Hockett , who proposed a list of design features of Human Language, argue that there are significant differences separating human language from animal communication even at its most complex, and that the underlying principles are not related. Accordingly, Thomas A. Sebeok has proposed not to use the term 'language' in case of animal sign systems. Others argue that an evolutionary continuum exists between the communication methods these animals use and human language. Examining this continuum could help explain how humanity evolved its incredibly sophisticated proficiency for language.

Eventually, it comes to question section. It's time to answer the most controversial and interesting question ! My question is, is it fair or necessary to define animals communication abilities based on how well can they acquire human language. If its not, please explain with your reasons.