Archived Abstracts
Animals Use Language. Don’t They?
Location
Room 215, Schewel Hall
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Entry Number
56
Start Date
4-8-2020 3:00 PM
End Date
4-8-2020 3:15 PM
Department
English
Abstract
Animals do not use language. There is a widely accepted falsehood that all organisms on Earth have different languages that they use with one another. This idea is taught in elementary education all over the world. Yet, the only animals that possess language are human beings. That does not mean no other animals are able to communicate with one another. On the contrary, it simply means that a fundamental difference exists between language and communication. Bird songs are beautiful, but they are not a beautiful language. Instead, they are a beautiful form of communication. All animals possess communication, but they do not possess the features necessary to form language. Anthropologist Charles Hockett determined a list of design features that are needed for a mode of communication to be considered a language. Of the original 13 offered by Hockett, 9 are accepted as necessary in the current world of linguistics: communication, semanticity, pragmatic function, interchangeability, cultural transmission, arbitrariness, discreteness, displacement, and productivity. Although other animals can achieve communication and possibly some other individual feature, that cannot be considered language because they do not possess all necessary features; only humans possess all of these, making humans the only animals that use language.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Leslie Layne
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Animals Use Language. Don’t They?
Room 215, Schewel Hall
Animals do not use language. There is a widely accepted falsehood that all organisms on Earth have different languages that they use with one another. This idea is taught in elementary education all over the world. Yet, the only animals that possess language are human beings. That does not mean no other animals are able to communicate with one another. On the contrary, it simply means that a fundamental difference exists between language and communication. Bird songs are beautiful, but they are not a beautiful language. Instead, they are a beautiful form of communication. All animals possess communication, but they do not possess the features necessary to form language. Anthropologist Charles Hockett determined a list of design features that are needed for a mode of communication to be considered a language. Of the original 13 offered by Hockett, 9 are accepted as necessary in the current world of linguistics: communication, semanticity, pragmatic function, interchangeability, cultural transmission, arbitrariness, discreteness, displacement, and productivity. Although other animals can achieve communication and possibly some other individual feature, that cannot be considered language because they do not possess all necessary features; only humans possess all of these, making humans the only animals that use language.