I

MARIO STIVEN CAMACHO CARVAJAL – 052101072021

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION HAND IN HAND WITH LANGUAGE

Language is the ability of living beings such as humans to express themselves, to

communicate, to convey certain needs, ideas, and desires. Language is given through
the articulate system or other non-verbal signs for assertive communication. Language
can be found in animals, but it is related to their natural communication, smell, touch,
movement, posture, facial gestures, and visual signals. However, there are animals that
communicate through a “sound” such as the gray marmoset (Saguinus leucopus) in
which it was found in an investigation that could reproduce up to 19 phonemes each one
related to behaviors of this animal. (Jesualdo Arturo Fuentes, Enrique Zerda – Ordóñez y
Joao Muñoz – Durán, 2013). Then it is possible that animals can communicate through
different gestures and sounds.

Non-human animals do not have a language, humans because they can establish
sets of verbal and non-verbal conventions to make known their desires, ideas, needs,
and through gestures we can observe how they feel, i.e., cry, be happy, upset, disgusted
through gestures to communicate between people. unlike humans, animals emit
different sounds to communicate, gestures, and signs of communication, for example
some species of spiders such as the peacock spider (Maratus volans) that lives in
Australia uses certain movements to communicate, this is given at the time of mating
because the male uses a dance in which the female is invited by the dance to mate. The
same happens with some species of birds, which use their songs, dances, and plumage
to communicate with each other.

With the above, it can be said that researchers do not believe that animals have
an established language, since they do not use conventional sets to communicate, they
do not have as such a series of formed words, grammatical forms, structures among
others, in their defense they use the above mentioned which are gestures and sounds, it
is the simplest form of communication between non-human animals. We can relate this
to humans in their first stages of life, when babies do not use words for their
communication but different sounds, crying is one of them, through crying they
communicate their needs, such as when they are hungry, sleepy or need a diaper
change.

Continuing with the previous framework, if we separate babies in the first instance
they would not grow up with a language since they would not be taught it, but they would
grow up with a series of gestures to communicate and try to make themselves
 II

understood. This happens with non-human animals; from the time they are born until
they die, they have this series of patterns to "express themselves".

So, the question is: why can some animals understand what we want them to do?
Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) have adapted to the needs of
their owners, it could be said that they are able to understand our language when they
are given a command and understand it, but that is not likely, since they are to train them
from an early age to follow certain orders such as "come", "quiet" "jump" and many more,
these animals are able to read the intentions of their owners, we cannot say that they
understand the language but the form and intentions with which we reproduce the
sounds. To give a clearer and more coherent example is when its owner say a
compliment like "good dog" if its owner says it with an angry tone of voice the dog will
react with sad gestures or putting its tail between its legs, the same thing will happen if its
owner says "bad dog" with a happy tone of voice, surely the dog will react wagging its tail
from one side to the other. In the case of birds that can emit words such as parrots
(Psittacoidea) or crows (Corvus corax) it is because their articulations in their beaks and
their tongue are similar to those of humans, however these words that they can emit or
memorize have no meaning for the birds, nor does it mean that they will use them to
communicate with each other, they are simply sounds that they learn when they are in
captivity and being in coexistence with humans.

with the above, it is a fact that animals do not have a language but a biochemical
system of signals and gestures for their communication such as the barking of dogs, the
sound waves emitted by whales, dolphins, the trills of birds. although these patterns may
resemble language for their communication and to be understood, they cannot be called
language because they do not have grammatical structures, sets of letters that form
words and meanings.

Noam Chomsky, a philosopher, activist, linguist, and political scientist also

considered the father of modern philosophy, Chomsky says that language is unique to
humans, as we have formal structures such as grammar, syntax, and semantics. He also
says that language comes from our genes, it does not come from a primitive language
associated with our primitive ancestors who were primates, so language is related to our
lineage, as it evolved over time and is not linked to primates. (Chomsky, 1970; 1992).
Before Chomsky talked about communication in animals, it became known that some
psychologists and scientists in previous years had experimented with small groups of
chimpanzees by treating them as children to teach them to speak using language as a
means of communication. These studies and experiments on chimpanzees failed and the
idea that language was exclusive to humans gained more strength. With the failed
experiments done on primates, which are the closest animal species genetically to
humans, the theory was born that the sounds that emerge are just squeaks that depend
on what they are feeling or living in their natural habitat. That in reality apes could not
stimulate their joints to speak or modulate their breathing.
 III

It is important to emphasize that these investigations were carried out with the
purpose of investigating animal behavior and understanding their communication. In the
case of bonobos (Pan paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (gorillas)
were recently studied in their natural habitats, and it was revealed that they have
similarities and is that for example bonobos and chimpanzees are able to create cultures
between their species, can make plans for their food as a team, solve adversities of their
environment and tell situations that happens to them through sounds.

Bonobos are the group of non-human animals that are most associated with
communication and several similarities with humans can be seen. These primates are
able to reproduce sounds depending on the emotions they are feeling, they are animals
that establish interpersonal relationships and are more linked to social contexts. Bonobos
are also especially interesting in terms of socio-emotional cognition, as they seem to be
more socially focused and more socially tolerant and emotionally sensitive than
chimpanzees. (Zanna Clay, 2018)

For non-human animals, language with grammatical structures is not an obstacle

to communicate, in all contexts, groups of species have different ways to make
themselves understood and express their needs. Dolphins are able to maintain
conversations between their species, and it has been recorded on occasions when they
emit sounds between them and even wait for one to finish "talking" before the other one
starts. Bees are intelligent and communicate through vibrations and movements, they
move their tails depending on which way the colony has to go. Prairie dogs have a
particular way of warning their packs of danger, they are able to emit dozens of different
sounds to warn of danger, research has shown that prairie dogs through their chirps can
warn of the size, and even the color of the approaching danger and however wonderful it
is they have different body gestures for each sound. On the side of the bats, small flying
mammals do not have a very developed vision so their way of communication is through
frequencies of sounds they emit, it has been scientifically proven that bats can recognize
up to 33 syllables, but not syllables that we learn from our language but mixed
frequencies of sounds. In the case of whales, the largest mammals on earth, they also
have different frequencies of sounds for communication, bio marine studies revealed that
each different species of whale has an intention with their sound frequencies.

Then, it should be noted that animals use a series of gestures, patterns, sounds,
and frequency waves to communicate with each other, pass information and / or tell
hunting plans, this communication between animals occurs between individuals of the
same species but in some cases can occur between different species, an example is
when a cat meows to its owner to feed him. Communication is essential to keep herd
groups together and maintain order, this can be evidenced in primates, although there
are species of animals that are solitary, they usually use communication in their lives at
least to find a mate or reproduce.
 IV

animal "language" is similar to that of humans if we compare them, that is to say

we can analyze the different types of communication. gestures, primates use facial
expressions or gestures when danger is looming, just like humans when they dislike
something their first way of expressing it is through facial expressions, tactile signals, this
happens in insects but also in primate species when they groom their group mates to
help them with parasites, This strengthens their relationships and helps the cooperation
of the group members, and like the previous example, this type of communication occurs
in humans when a mother checks her daughter's head to help her with some lice, or
among animal species, if a person checks his dog to remove ticks.

Communication between animals as mentioned above is used in different

contexts, the main ones are: to get a mate: many animals have established behaviors to
get a mate, these behaviors can be seen in the trills of birds, dances, gestures, objects,
among others. To establish dominance in a territory, for this animal use roars, sounds,
movements that help them to establish territory. to coordinate group behaviors, this can
be seen when they go hunting, from small insects to large mammals. and last but not
least when it is necessary to take care of a baby, it can be seen in herds of lions and in
groups of primates.
In conclusion, it is important to recognize the difference between language and
communication. Language is something innate to human beings as it must be composed
of grammatical, semantic and syntactic structures, letters that form words to make sense
and make known the different desires, ideas and information between individuals.
Communication is to convey a message, this can be done through gestures, movements,
facial expressions, among many more. Communication can be observed in many animal
species, as they use different types to achieve their goals, and these range from mating
dances to hunting plans. It is wonderful how each animal species has different ways of
communicating, from ants using their antennae to transmit information to the great
whales where they use their sound frequencies to warn when a female is ready to
reproduce, or to warn of danger. Communication between groups is very important for
the survival of the species, this strengthens the bonds between animal species, interact
with each other, obtain resources such as food, things necessary for them. That is why
we can say that non-human animals do not have language but many forms of
communication through sounds, gestures, movement, vibrations that allow them to
interact with their own or other species.

REFERENCES

 Science New Series, Vol. 328, No. 5981 (2010), Animal Communication Helps
Reveal Roots of Language

 Voxy (2012), Do Animals Have a Language?

 V

 Clay Z, Archbold J, & Zuberbühler K (2015). Functional flexibility in wild bonobo vocal
behaviour.

 Sara vicente (2018), Conoce a una primatóloga: Zanna Clay

 Jesualdo Arturo Fuentes, Enrique Zerda – Ordóñez and Joao Muñoz – Durán, (2013)
VOCAL COMMUNICATION OF WHITE-FOOTED TAMARIN (SAGUINUS
LEUCOPUS) IN THE WILD: Comunicación vocal del tití gris (Saguinus leucopus) en
estado silvestre

 Marciano Escutia, (201), Chomsky, la naturaleza humana, el lenguaje y las

limitaciones de la ciencia y una propuesta complementaria inspirada en C. S. Lewis

 Kátia Brunetti, (2020), Comunicación y lenguaje de los animales

 Luis Xavier López, (2016), El "lenguaje" de los animales no humanos en el

comentario de al-Fārābī a De Interpretatione de Aristóteles