Animals and Human

Language

Professor Haifa Al-Buainain

» Human language is entirely different from animal
communication. Human language has many properties which
makes it different from animal communication. Human language
has alphabets which help man to write down and preserve ideas
for coming generations. Animal communication is context bound,
they cannot communicate any experience of past. Animal
communication is biologically transmitted thus, animals cannot
learn any other languages. Some birds like parrot may imitate
human utterances but it reiterates the words without knowing
their meanings; and it also fails to learn more words. If they try to
learn new utterance the older ones get erased. Whereas human
beings can imitate the sounds of animals and make them respond
to the sounds easily. Hence human communication or human
language is a unique one which is the sole property of him.
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Professor Haifa Al-Buainain

» What are the characteristics/ Properties of human
language?

1) Reflexivity/Reflexiveness

To use the language to think and talk about language itself.

2) Displacement
It allows language users to talk about things and events not present in the
immediate environment. Human beings can talk of real or imaginary
situations, places and objects far removed from their present
surroundings and time. Human language is context free whereas animal
communication mostly context bound. Animal communication is merely a
response to stimulus in the immediate environment like the presence of
food or danger.
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Professor Haifa Al-Buainain

3) Arbitrariness
Generally speaking there is no natural connection between a
linguistic form and its meaning.

4) Productivity/ Creativity
Yet another distinctive feature of human communication is
creativity. Human beings use their linguistic resources to
produce new expressions and new sentences. They arrange
and rearrange phonemes, morphemes, words and phrases to
create new modes of expression. This is also called open-
endedness of language. Animal communication is closed
system they cannot produce new vocal signals to
communicate novel events or experience.
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Professor Haifa Al-Buainain

5) Cultural Transmission
Human language is culturally transmitted. Thus human beings
brought up in different culture acquire different languages also
by the influence of other culture man can learn other languages
in course of time. But animals lack in this capacity. Their
communication ability is transmitted biologically so they are
unable to acquire other languages.
6) Duality
The primary difference between human communication
and animal communication is the duality of structure of
human language. Linguistic forms have two
simultaneous levels of sound production and meaning,
also called “double articulation”. Each human language
has got a fixed number of sound units called phonemes.
These phonemes are combined to make morphemes.
Thus language has got two levels of patterning which is
not prevailed in animal communication. 5

Professor Haifa Al-Buainain