Do Animals Truly Have Language?

All animals communicate, from the waving claws of crabs to the intricate skin patterns of cuttlefish. Honeybees perform elaborate dances to guide their hive-mates to food sources. But does this communication rise to the level of language?

Defining Language: Four Key Qualities

To determine whether animal communication constitutes language, we can examine four specific qualities:

• Discreteness: The presence of individual units (sounds, words) that can be combined to create new ideas.
• Grammar: A system of rules governing how these units are combined.
• Productivity: The ability to create an infinite number of messages.
• Displacement: The capacity to discuss things not immediately present, such as the past, future, or hypothetical events.

Animal Communication Under the Microscope

Crabs and cuttlefish, while possessing impressive communication systems, don't appear to meet these criteria. Their signals lack creative combination and grammatical structure, and they primarily convey immediate conditions.

The Case of the Bees

Bees, however, demonstrate some intriguing properties. Their "waggle dance" uses movements, angles, duration, and intensity to communicate the location and richness of food sources outside the hive – exhibiting displacement.

Prairie Dog Chatter

Prairie dogs, living in vast colonies, use alarm calls to identify predators. These calls convey detailed information about the predator's size, shape, speed, and even the clothing and weaponry of human threats.

Great Apes and Sign Language

Great apes, such as chimpanzees and gorillas, have shown remarkable communication abilities. Some have learned modified sign language. The chimpanzee Washoe demonstrated discreteness by combining signs into original phrases. Koko, a gorilla, understood over 1,000 signs and 2,000 spoken words, and displayed displacement when referring to a deceased kitten. It's important to note that these apes were using human communication systems.

Dolphin Communication

Dolphins use whistles to communicate age, location, names, and gender. They also exhibit an understanding of grammar in gestural languages used by researchers, though this isn't observed in their natural communication.

The Human Edge: A Unique Combination

While these animal communication systems possess some language qualities, none exhibit all four. Even the impressive abilities of apes using sign language are surpassed by the language skills of young children.

Animals typically have limited conversational topics. Bees focus on food, prairie dogs on predators, and crabs on themselves. Human language stands apart due to its powerful combination of grammar and productivity, alongside discreteness and displacement.

The human brain can use a finite set of elements to create an infinite number of messages. We can construct and comprehend complex sentences and novel words. Language allows us to communicate about a vast range of subjects, discuss imaginary concepts, and even deceive.

A Continuum of Communication

Ongoing research continues to unveil the complexities of animal communication. It's possible that human language and animal communication aren't entirely distinct but exist on a continuum. After all, we are all animals.