TSLB3013

Linguistics

Nature and Functions of Language

Animal & Human Communication
16 June 2016

1
 Learning Outcomes:
• Compare & contrast human language &
animal communication

2
 Brain Teaser 1
Part I
• Is there animal language?
• Is animal communication the same as human
language?

3
• Video 2: Do animals have language?

4
 Communication between animals is not
synonymous with ‘language’
 Rather the term ‘signal codes’ is used to
indicate interaction between animals
 In human these codes are called
languages
e.g. letters, words, phrases, sentences
as in linear forms vs. non-linear
format

5
In retrospect, to qualify as a mean for
communication the elements needed are:

1. Mode : vocal-auditory, visual, tactile etc.

2. Semanticity :signals/ codes have meaning
3. Pragmatic function : purposes / values
4. Interchangeability(reciprocality):exchange
5. Traditional transmission : innate ability

But for communication system to be accepted as

‘true language’ it also needs characteristics
such as
6
 Characteristics of ‘true language”

1. Productivity – the ability to produce and

understand any number of messages of any
length
2. Lang. Displacement – talk and understand
messages in relation to time, distance and
the notion of abstractness, and
3. Arbitrariness – relationship language and
concept is usually arbitrary and must be
learned, as vs. iconic in the animal com.
system (fixed). It is dictated and related to
cultural settings/ needs (Cultural Trans)
7
 True language (con’t)
 The concept of ‘true language’ combines and
uses all the 5 elements and 3 characteristics
mentioned above
 Animal communication lacks these 3 essential
characteristics:
1. Productivity – can animals react to and
perform multiple actions/ instructions ?
2. Displacement – warn others of impending
danger ?
3. Arbitrariness – agreement to a common
reference for things or conditions ?
8
Animal Communication System
• Animals do communicate with each other in
systems called signal codes.

• Most signal codes are iconic in nature –

consists of a small, finite number of discrete
signals.
• these signals are called fixed reference. Each
signal is fixed often concerned with essentials of
survival such as food, danger, or interaction needs.
(relating to a particular object or occasion)

9
 Examples of signal codes
1. WOLVES
• Wolves use many facial expressions,
movement of their tails, and growls to express
different degrees of threats, anxiety,
depression and submission.

• All these systems are ‘fixed’ in terms of the

messages which can be conveyed.

• They use the same signals or expressions to

refer to specific things  lack the creative
element of human language
10
 Examples of signal codes
2. HONEY BEES
• Honey bees have limited system of
communication – focus on food source

• A forager bee returns to the hive and

perform round dance or waggle dance
to communicate direction, distance
(location) and quality of food source to
members of their hive.

11
 Examples of signal codes
3. BIRDS
• Like humans, birds and mammals do produce
a number of discrete signals, usually limited
to fewer than thirty.
• Bird calls are short, (consisting of one or more
short notes) to convey messages associated
with the immediate environment, such as
danger, feeding, nesting, flocking and so on.

• When animals vocally imitate human

utterances, it does not mean they possess
language.
12
 Sign Languages
• Is sign language used by the deaf a
language?

13
 Sign Languages
• Sign languages are human languages that
do not use sounds to express meanings.

• Sign languages are visual-gestural systems

that use hand, body, and facial gestures as
the forms used to represent words.

• Sign languages are accepted as fully

developed languages.

14
• Deaf children who are exposed to sign
language learn it in stages parallel to those of
hearing children learning oral language.

• Language acquisition and language use are

not dependent on the ability to produce and
hear sounds, but on a much more abstract
cognitive ability, biologically determined,
that accounts for the similarities between
spoken and sign languages.

15
 American Sign Language (ASL) has
its own grammar.
• American Sign Language is used in many
countries by somewhere between half a
million to 2 million signers (Finegan, 2012).
• ASL and other similar sign languages use
manual signs and facial and bodily gestures,
combining them under a system of
grammatical rules to create an infinite number
of sentences.

16
• That grammar encompasses knowledge
of the system of gestures, equivalent to
phonology of spoken languages as well
as the morphological, syntactic, and
semantic systems and a mental lexicon
of signs.

17
 Common characteristics of sign
languages
• Signs are produced differently than finger-
spelled words.
• Signers communicate ideas at a rate
comparable to spoken communication.
• Slips of the hand occur similar to slips of the tongue.
Sign languages resemble spoken languages in all
major aspects.
• The arbitrary relationship between form (sounds)
and meaning (concept) of a word in spoken
language is also true in sign languages used by deaf
people. 18
 Conclusion
Animal com. Vs Human language
Animal communication
Both animal & human have systems of communication, vocally (sounds)/visually
Code systems are inborn
Basic, simpler
Confined by stimulus, context & response
Closed inventory of codes; limited -
Open-ended.
Communication relies on non-arbitrary signs
– direct relationship between sign &
meaning e.g. croaking of male frogs to
attract female frogs, gazelles fleeing to warn
other gazelles of danger
Human communication/language
Symbols and signs are created &
acquired
Complex structured, meaningful, referential,
communicative, linguistic hierarchy of units
Unlimited number of messages can be
sent /messages to be constructed
Arbitrary – no resemblance of (linguistic)
signs and meaning, The signs are used to
express logical sequence of thoughts
19
 Conclusion
Animal com. Vs Human language
Animal communication Human communication/language

No/limited productivity/creativity Productivity /creativity

Limited non linguistic communicative system, Highly sophisticated linguistic communicative
communication signs are invariant (don’t system, ability to produce and comprehend
change rituals), limited repertoire of infinite sentences
meanings(unable to use the same units of
the system to express many different
messages with different meaning)

Cannot be segmented into independently Discreteness/duality

meaningful parts Discrete combination of system called
“grammar”
No/Very restricted displacement Displacement
Bee dance- e.g. of displacement -reveals Convey information not in the immediate
location (distance & direction) and quality of environment
food source

20
 Animal com. Vs Human language
Animal communication Human communication/language

Set responses to stimuli - Not limited to use as an index

Each sign has one fixed function; - Each sign multiple functions; one
- each meaning via one way meaning thru many ways
Limited use - Creative, adaptibility, multi-use

Extremely slow evolution Change accordingly eg. social, cultural,

trade, education

21
 Conclusion
• Human species have the ability to learn a
language (innate).
• Animal produces a particular behaviour in
response or reaction to noted stimulus,
whereas humans utilize a set of arbitrary
symbols and defined cues (non-verbal
features) to communicate messages and
meanings.
• We are beginning to understand these
symbols and cues in the linguistics context but
do not fully comprehend the complex inter and
intra cultural process of human
communication. 22
Suggested references
Fromkin, V., Rodman,R. Hyam, N (2003). An
Introduction to Language. 7th. Ed. Sydney.
Holt, Rine and Winston.

Finegan, E., N (2008). Language: Its

Structure and Use. San Diego. Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich

Aitchison, J. (1976) The Articulate Mammal.

Hutchinson

Yule, George. (1996) The Study of Language.

Second Edition. Cambridge, CUP 23
 Tutorial 2
1. “Language is more arbitrary than iconic”
Discuss.

2. What do you understand by the term ‘true

language’ ?

“…whereas humans utilize a set of arbitrary symbols and defined

cues (non-verbal features) to communicate messages and
meanings. We are beginning to understand these symbols and
cues in the linguistics context but do not fully comprehend the
complex inter and intra cultural process of human
communication”

3. Discuss the above opinion in context of nature

and function of Language
24