ENGL 312

General Linguistics
Dr Abdulqader Alyasin

Chapter 2
Animals & Human
Language
Discuss:

1. Is it possible for creatures to learn to communicate with

humans using language?
2. Does human language have unique properties (unlike
any other communication system) unlearnable by any
other creature?
Take notes while watching the following video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1FY5kL_zXU
To answer the previous discussion questions, we first look at some
special properties of human language, then review a number of
experiments in communication involving humans and animals.
1.Communication
 Divine Sources

We should distinguish between specifically communicative signals and

those that may be unintentionally informative signals.
 Communicative & Informative
Signals
Signals

Informative Signals Communicative Signals

(sending signals unintentionally) (intentionally communicating sth)

Humans
a cold = sneezed Animals
e.g.
not at ease = shifting around
We have a quiz next week e.g.
disorganized = non-matching socks A blackbird producing a loud squawk
I’m sorry, I don’t think I can make when a cat appears in the scene
stranger = strange accent it to the meeting
2.Properties of Human Language
• While we tend to think of communication as the primary function of
human language, it is not its only distinguishing feature. All creatures
communicate in some way, even if it is not through vocalization.

• However, human language has distinct properties/features which may not

be found in animal communication.
Properties of Human Language
1. Reflexivity
2. Displacement
3. Arbitrariness
4. Cultural Transmission
5. Productivity
6. Duality
Reflexivity
All creatures communicate, but humans are the only creature that has the ability to
reflect.
One barking dog is probably not offering advice to another barking dog along the lines of
"Hey, you should lower your bark to make it sound more menacing." They're not barking
about barking.

Humans are clearly able to reflect on language and its uses (e.g. "I wish he wouldn't use
so many technical terms").This is reflexivity.

Reflexivity ("reflexiveness") accounts for the fact that we can use language to think and
talk about language itself.
Displacement
• Animal communication is designed exclusively for the immediate place
and time (here and now). It isn't used to relate events that are removed in
time and place.
Examples:
“meow, meow!!” I am hungry N O W ! (not next week)
“bark, bark!” An intruder is at the door NOW ! (not yesterday)

Humans can use language to refer to present, past and future

time. e.g. last night, now, next week
This property of human language is called displacement. It
allows language users to talk about things not present in the
immediate environment.
We can even talk about things and places we cannot see.
e.g. angels, fairies, heaven, hell

Bee communication is a small exception (a limited type of displacement).

(Read page. 15)

Shall we watch the bees?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKV7PiRTuSg
Arbitrariness
• There is no ‘natural’ connection between a linguistic form and its meaning;
the connection is quite arbitrary.
Examples:
- We can't just look at the Arabic word ‘‫ ’كلب‬or the English word ‘dog’ and
from its shape determine that it has a natural and obvious meaning.

• This aspect of the relationship between words and objects is described as

arbitrariness.

• There are some rare words (onomatopoeic) in human language with sounds
that seem to ‘echo’ the sounds of objects or actions (less arbitrary).
Examples:
hiss, boom, cuckoo, crash, slurp, squelch or whirr
• For the majority of animal signals, however, there appears to be a clear
connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it.

• Animal communication is finite, consisting of a limited set of vocal or gestural

forms. Many of these forms are only used in specific situations (to establish
territory) or at particular times (to find a mate).
Examples:
- meow
- woof
 Cultural Transmission
o Humans inherit physical features (brown eyes and dark hair) from their
parents, but language is not inherited.

o We acquire a language in a culture with other speakers (not from parental

genes).
Cultural transmission
The process whereby a language is passed on from
one generation to the next.

• Humans are born with some kind of predisposition to acquire language

in a general sense. However, we are not born with the ability to produce
utterances in a specific language such as English.

• We acquire our first language as children in a culture.

 Animals are born with a set of specific signals
produced instinctively.

Studies show that as birds develop their songs, instinct has to

combine with learning (or exposure) in order for the right song
to be produced.
If those birds spend their first seven weeks without hearing
other birds, they will instinctively produce songs or calls, but
those songs will be abnormal in some way.

Human infants, growing up in isolation, produce

no ‘instinctive’ language.
Productivity
 Productivity
• Productivity (or "creativity" or "open-endedness") essentially means that the
potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite.

• Humans are continually creating new expressions by manipulating their

linguistic resources to describe new objects and situations.
Examples:
- Covid
- google
- robotherapist
- autobesity

https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/category/new-words/
• Animal communication can be described in terms of fixed reference because
it lacks productivity.
• Each signal in the communication system of other creatures seems to be fixed
in terms of relating to a particular occasion or purpose.

Examples:
- Honey-bee can normally communicate the location
of a nectar source to other bees, will fail to do so if
the location is really new. [see experiment on page 17]

- Cicadas have four signals to choose from.

- Vervet monkeys have thirty-six vocal calls.

 Duality (double-articulation)
• Duality (double-articulation) mean that human language is organized at two
levels simultaneously.

o At one level (physical level) - distinct sounds (no meaning):

Individual sounds, like n, b and i have no meaning.
o At another level - distinct meanings
In a combination, these sounds can become meaningful as in ‘bin’ or ‘nib’.

• This duality of levels is one of the most economical features of human

language because with a limited set of sounds we are capable of producing a
very large number of sound combinations (e.g. words) that are distinct in
meaning.
• Among other creatures, each communicative signal appears to be a single
fixed form that cannot be broken down into separate parts

Example:
- A dog may be able to produce woof (“I’m happy to see you").

-A dog cannot produce different combinations with different

meanings, such as oowf (“I’m hungry") and foow (“I’m really
bored").
3.Talking to Animals
 Can other creatures understand human language?
 Animals follow what is being said (horses, pets, circus animals!)

• Riders can say Whoa to horses and they stop, we can say Heel to dogs and they will
follow at heel (well, sometimes ... ), and a variety of circus animals go Up, Down and
Roll over in response to spoken commands.

• Should we treat these examples as evidence that non-humans can understand human
language?
Probably not. Animals produce a particular behavior in response to a sound
stimulus, but do not actually "understand" what the noise means.

• Also, animals of one species do not learn to produce the signals of another species.
• Even if a horse is kept in a field of cows for years, it still won't say Moo.

Watch this funny video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ1HKCYJM5U
4. Chimpanzees and Language
Experiments to teach a chimpanzee to use human language.

(Gua)
In the 1930s, scientists raised an infant chimpanzee (Gua) with their baby
son. Gua was able to understand 100 words but did not ‘say’ any.

(Viki)
o In the 1940s, another scientist couple raised Viki as a human child. They
spent 5 years attempting to get her to ‘say’ English words by trying to
shape her mouth as she produces sounds.
o Eventually, she managed to produce poorly articulated versions of mama,
papa, and cup.
 This was a remarkable achievement since it has become clear that non-human
primates do not actually have a physically structured vocal tract that is
suitable for articulating the sounds used in speech.
 Apes and gorillas can, like chimpanzees, communicate with a wide range of
vocal calls, but they just can't make human speech sounds
 1. Washoe Beatrix & Allen Gardner:
 raised Washoe as a human child.

 taught her to use a version of American Sign

Let’s watch Washoe Language (ASL), learned by many deaf
https://www.youtube.com/ children as their natural 1st language.
watch?v=OUwOvF7TqgA  Sign language was always used when she’s
around; she was encouraged to use signs.
 In 3 ½ years, she came to use signs for more than a
100 words. (e.g. baby, banana, window, woman,
you, etc)
 She was able to combine forms to
produce sentences (e.g. more fruit/ open
food drink)
 She invented some forms (e.g. water bird = swan) –
productivity.
2. Sarah and LanaAnn & David Premack
 taught Sarah to use a set of plastic shapes
(represented ‘words’ and could be arranged
in sequence to build ‘sentences’) to
communicate with humans.
 She was systematically trained to associate
these shapes with objects or actions.
 Remained in cage; got food rewards to
manipulate a set of symbols.
 She was capable of:
 getting an apple by selecting the correct

plastic shape (a blue triangle)

 Producing ‘sentences’ (e.g. Mary give
chocolate Sarah)
 Understanding complex structures (e.g. If

Sarah put red on green, Mary give Sarah

chocolate.)
Lana Duane Rumbaugh

 trained Lana using a similar training

technique (artificial language – Yerkish).

 Yerkish consisted of a set of symbols on a

large keyboard linked to a computer.

 For water = press 4 symbols in the

correct sequence = please machine
give water.
3. The Controversy
Can animals speak human-like languages?
• Both Sara & Lana demonstrated an ability to use word symbols & basic
structures in ways that superficially resemble the use of language.
• Skepticism regarding these apparent linguistic skills:
When Lana used the symbol for "please," she did not have to understand the
meaning of the English word ‘please’.
• The symbol for "please" on the computer keyboard might simply be the
equivalent of a button on a vending machine and, so the argument goes, we
could learn to operate vending machines without necessarily knowing
language.
• Chimpanzees simply produce signs in response to the demands of people and
tend to repeat signs those people use.

READ P. 21.
 4. Kanzi
• Kanzi, the son of another chimpanzee (Matata)
learned the sign language when his mother was Let’s watch Kanzi
trained by Sue, the scienti st.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
• Matata didn’t do well, but Kanzi spontaneously v=wRM7vTrIIis
started to use the symbol system (over 250
forms) with great ease.

• He had learned not being taught but by being

exposed to and observing a language at a very
early age.

• Kanzi eventually developed a large symbol vocabulary

(over 250 forms). By the age of eight, he was reported to
be able to demonstrate understanding of spoken English
at a level comparable to a two-and-a-half-year-old
human child.
5.Using Language
• Were Washoe and Kanzi capable of taking part in interaction with humans
by using a symbol system chosen by humans and not chimpanzees?
• Yes.

• Did Washoe and Kanzi go on to perform linguistically like a human child

about to begin pre-school?
• No

• Humans and chimps seem to communicate in different situations.

• However, only a human child has the capacity to develop a complex system
of sounds and structures that will allow the child to produce extended
discourse containing a potentially infinite number of novel utterances.

• No other creature has been observed "using language" in this sense.

• Language is uniquely human in this more comprehensive and productive
sense.
Kahoot Quiz

https://play.kahoot.it/v2/?quizId=8f357218-
b1ac-4bf8-a1d7-20cebdd80356
Questions