Linguistics 201 Quick Write #2: Language and Communication It has recently been discovered that prairie dogs

make different chirping sounds for different intruders into their territory. They have, for example, one "chirp!" sound for a coyote, another for a hawk, and another for a badger. They can even differentiate between a coyote and a dog, or between two human beings wearing differently colored outfits. In fact, the lead researcher into this communication system claims that prairie dogs can also identify how tall or short human beings are, meaning that they can say things like, "Here comes the tall human in blue!" or "Here comes the short human in yellow!" Do you think this prairie dog chirping system is consistent with the claim that there are features of human language which crucially distinguish it from nonhuman communication systems? Why or why not?

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