Animal communication and

human language
Romanian – English 3rd year
What is communication?
 communication – the activity or
process of expressing ideas and
feelings or of giving people
information
 (according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
What is language?
 language – a system of sounds
and words used by humans to
communicate
 (according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
 Types of communication

 visual
communication
 sound

 tactile
 chemical
 Ways humans communicate

 vocal – auditory
(spoken language)
 non-verbal (body
language)
 tactile – visual (ASL)

 !! writing –
technological
innovation
 Ways animals communicate

 visual signals and

displays (bee
dances)  auditory or sound
signals (bird cries,
dog barks)
 touch or tactile
signals
 chemical signals
(ants pheromones)
 Properties of the human
language

How is human language different from

animal communication system?
 1. Broadcast is directional
 a message of human  animal
language is directed communication is
towards a hearer / usually radiant
reader  bird cries
 exceptions: mass  territorial markings
media
 2. Rapid fading
 a spoken message  animal
does not last long communication is
 exception : writing relatively permanent
 territorial markings
 chemicals
 3. Semanticity
 human language is  non-symbolic animal
symbolic – they communication
stand for something  showing teeth
other than  barking
themselves
 4. Displacement
 human language is  animal
used to communication is
communicate things typically restricted to
that may be remote the here-and-now
in space and time
 5. Tradition
 the conventions of  animal
language are passed communication
down by learning tends to be
genetically inherited
 bioluminescence
 stickleback courtship
dance
 6. Lying
 human language can  lying is absent from
be used to most animal
communicate false communication
messages
Talking to animals
Can we teach human
language to animals?
 KOKO – gorilla experiment
 One of the most famous
experiments began in
1972, when Francine
Patterson began teaching
ASL to a gorilla named
Koko.

 Koko now knows more or

less 1000 signs.
other : GUA & VIKI
Animal communication

-examples-
Bee dances
Clever Hans
Doggie language
Cats body language
Can communication help
animals and humans to
survive?
Humans vs. ants reaction to panic
Bibliography:
 1. Yule George – The Study of Language. 4th
Edition. Cambridge University Press. 2010

 2. Donald R. Griffin – Animal Minds. University

of Chicago Press. 1992

 3. Martin Hilpert – ‘An Introduction to English

Linguistics'. University of Neuchâtel
