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Animal languages are forms of non-human animal communication that show similarities to human language.[1] Animals communicate through a variety of signs, such as sounds and movements. Signing among animals may be considered a form of language if the inventory of signs is large enough. The signs are relatively arbitrary, and the animals seem to produce them with a degree of volition (as opposed to relatively automatic conditioned behaviors or unconditioned instincts, usually including facial expressions). In experimental tests, animal communication may also be evidenced through the use of lexigrams by chimpanzees and bonobos.[2][3]
Many researchers argue that animal communication lacks a key aspect of human language, the creation of new patterns of signs under varied circumstances. Humans, by contrast, routinely produce entirely new combinations of words. Some researchers, including the linguist Charles Hockett, argue that human language and animal communication differ so much that the underlying principles are unrelated.[4] Accordingly, linguist Thomas A. Sebeok has proposed to not use the term "language" for animal sign systems.[5] However, other linguists and biologists, including Marc Hauser, Noam Chomsky, and W. Tecumseh Fitch, assert an evolutionary continuum exists between the communication methods of animal and human language.[6]
- ^ Shah, Sonia (20 September 2023). "The Animals Are Talking. What Does It Mean? – Language was long understood as a human-only affair. New research suggests that isn't so. + comment". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
- ^ Yamamoto, Hare & (2016). Bonobos. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-872851-1.
- ^ Lyn, Heidi; Greenfield, Patricia M.; Savage-Rumbaugh, E. Sue (2011). "Semiotic combinations in Pan: A comparison of communication in a chimpanzee and two bonobos". First Language. 31 (3): 300–325. doi:10.1177/0142723710391872. ISSN 0142-7237.
- ^ Hockett, Charles F. (1960). "Logical considerations in the study of animal communication". In Lanyon, W.E.; Tavolga, W.N. (eds.). Animals sounds and animal communication. American Institute of Biological Sciences. pp. 392–430.
- ^ Martinelli, Dario (2010). "Introduction to Zoosemiotics". A Critical Companion to Zoosemiotics: People, Paths, Ideas. Biosemiotics. Vol. 5. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. pp. 1–64. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-9249-6_1. ISBN 978-90-481-9249-6.
- ^ Hauser, Marc D.; Chomsky, Noam; Fitch, W. Tecumseh (22 November 2002). "The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve?" (PDF). Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science. pp. 1569–1579. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
We argue that an understanding of the faculty of language requires substantial interdisciplinary cooperation. We suggest how current developments in linguistics can be profitably wedded to work in evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience. We submit that a distinction should be made between the faculty of language in the broad sense (FLB) and in the narrow sense (FLN). FLB includes a sensory-motor system, a conceptual-intentional system, and the computational mechanisms for recursion, providing the capacity to generate an infinite range of expressions from a finite set of elements. We hypothesize that FLN only includes recursion and is the only uniquely human component of the faculty of language. We further argue that FLN may have evolved for reasons other than language, hence comparative studies might look for evidence of such computations outside of the domain of communication (for example, number, navigation, and social relations).