When Animals Communicate They Are Not Using Language

Have you ever wanted to talk to a animal? If so, scientists are making it possible. Animals can learn or use language.

Language is essential to every interaction and aspect in human’s everyday lives. Imagine a world without language, everyone will be mute and doesn’t have any connection with each other. Being able to communicate through language with each other forms bonds and that’s what make human different from any animal species. And language gives us a unique and diverse characters to each of us.

I do believe that they have their own language and I have thought that since they were babies. There is some form of communication that goes on with them that the normal person cannot understand.

A person communicate different variety of ways, both verbally and non-verbally. Primates and other animals have been communicating without the use of language since long before humans invented verbal communication. Some scientists believe that even today, most communication between humans is non-verbal. Both types of communication differ significantly between genders and across cultures.

Language is a method in which individuals communicate in order to get their opinion across to the listening party. Language is the tool which ideas can be conveyed in various ways. Typically, language is referred to verbal communication, however, it ranges to all methods of communication i.e. sign language.

Language can be defined as a means of communication through spoken sounds, written symbols, or hand and body gestures. Subject to this simple definition language is neither human nor animal exclusive, meaning that all living creatures use some form of language to communicate. Humans have created the most advanced system of language. Human language has advanced to include listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and visual representation. These components are known as the six language arts and while they are individual components they are as well interdependent. What you learn about one affects what and how you learn about the others.

Language is a form of communication and can be portrayed in many different ways not just vocalization, this is shown by those that use sign language rather than vocalization; these humans still have complex language but they lack the necessary organs or capabilities to produce all of the sounds needed for vocal language; similarly, some non-human primates use different interactions as language not just production and combinations of sounds. Non-human primates do not have the ability to vocalize the way humans do because they lack vocal cords, control of the necessary vocalization, and other speech organs, but that does not mean that they cannot effectively communicate through language with other non-human primates or with humans as well.

“What makes us human?”, is an unanswered question asked by many. Is it because of our ability to have empathy for others? Or is it because of our cognitive ability which allows us to look into the future? One of the main arguments made that separates humans from animals is our communication style; our language. Is language inherently unique to human? To answer such a question, we first operationally define language as; “a system of communication based upon words and the combination of words into sentences” (University of Oslo). The purpose of language is for us to be able to convey an infinite amount of ideas to one another. Sign language in general also falls under this definition as it has a complex system of rules and syntax that allow the signed figures to function as words. Animal communication on the other hand, is operationally defined as, “the transmission of a signal from one animal to another such that the sender benefits, on average, from the response of the recipient” (Pearce 1987). With this in mind, current research has shown that the answer is that language is inherently unique to humans.

For example, imitation and teaching explain that chimpanzee’s may watch their mother doing actions academically (problem-solving) she never gives her young enough feedback or just a simple look to reinforce his observation. He concludes by explaining that humans have a preexisting capacity that allows them to represent what they imagine by combining human elements (language) while, animals clearly do not.

The claim, humans are the only animal that can acquire language has been the subject of much debate as scientists have investigated language use by non-human species. Researchers have taught apes, monkeys, parrots and wild children with various systems of human-like communication. Thus, one might ask, what is human language? According to Ulla Hedeager, A universally accepted definition of language or the criteria for its use does not exist. This is one of the reasons for the disagreement among scientists about whether non-human species can use a language. In nature, researchers find numerous types of communication systems, several of which appear to be unique to their possessors, and one of them is the language of the human species. Basically, the purpose of communication is the preservation, growth, and development of the species (Smith and Miller 1968:265). The ability to exchange information is shared by all communication systems, and a number of non-human systems share some features of human language. The fundamental difference between human and non-human communication is that animals are believed to react instinctively, in a stereotyped and predictable way. Generally, human behavior is under the voluntary control,

The best example for this is that of a baby. Newborns have no capability of the use of language. But they still know how to ‘think’ as they know what is happiness or what is pain. Nature has made them born with a language-independent system for thinking about objects. Another example that is applicable here is that people, sometimes, think visually and do not need language to give them information about the visual world. They can look at a person’s face and make a hypothesis of the emotion that they see.

Language is something that we need and use for everything in our lives. Language is, “a symbolic communication system that is learned instead of biologically inherited.” (O’Neil, 2006). Language is communication that is either written down or spoken in words or sentences. We need to have a good understanding of language to learn, work and for our normal lives. You need to know language to be able to communicate with other people. Language has structure and meaning, for example words and sentences. Language also had tone, pitch, pace and volume. There are several types of language, receptive language, expressive language, emergent language. Receptive language is how you receive and understand language and expressive language is how

It is as if one says a human who is an experiencing subject of a life must be able to understand and communicate its thoughts. Where do animals fit in? Do we discount them because they do not speak our language and we cannot understand theirs?

If you have a pet like dog, you will think it knows us. They know our expressions and they always can give us a comfort when we are in terrible situation. I think a lot of people often think about do animals know humans’ language? I want to discuss about Do animals have ability to learn language and what is the difference between human language and animal language.

Although, there is no agreed definition of language among linguists, but we can say that language is the most sophisticated way of communication between any two human beings and far more complex than any other system of communication. The ability of acquiring and using languages is one of the properties that differs us as human beings from other species.