O!~d'1f PJ:.:r,;lJtt..~1c11 l:Qku.~o ( (':J91T)----....

_
624

CONTEMPORARY LINGUISTICS

3. -How does English orthography capture the morphophonellJic

in the
tion
offollowing
the forms. words? Begin your analysis with a PhonellJic

a) hymn
b) part

c) recite
d) reduce
e) design
f) critical
g) analogue

hymnal
partial

recitation

reduction

designation
criticize
analogous

Animal communication
Michael Dobrovolsky

criticism
analogy

4. After discussing the forms in question 3, consider the follOWing

Does the spelling system treat all cases Qf allomorphic variation the

way?
a) invade
b) concede
c) assume
d) profound

As Ilistened

from a beach-chair in the shade

To aU the noises that my garden made,
It seemed tD me only proper that words
Should be withheld from vegetables and birds.

invasion
concession
assumption
prpfundity

... W.H.Auden

5. Briefly outline the advantages and disadvantages of the three m'\ior

of writing that have evolved throughout history.

Communication - the passing on or exchange of information - distinguishes

what is living from what is non-living in nature. l Communication is found
even in the apparently passive world of plants; trees, for example, have been
found to pass on information about advancing predators by means of chemical
signals. Animals communicate among themselves and with humans so
effectively that they are frequently held to use 'language'. But communication
and language are not simply two words that mean the same thing. Human
language is a specific way of representing the world and passing on
information. From the linguist's point of view not just any communication
qualifies as language as it is defined in this book.
A question which therefore interests many linguists is whether animals
make use of any system of communication that genuinely resembles or
approximates human language. Just as the use of communication sets what is
living apart from what is non-living, the use of language is often said to set
humans apart from all other animals. If animals communicate with a system
that is structured like human language, then language as we know it is not the
unique property of our species, and we will have to look for other ways of
defining humanness. This chapter investigates the ways in which animal
communication is like human language and the ways in which it is different.

~~~"~Ai;llIt\:.'I!!.'"~.'iiiZ~"

NON-VOCAL

One of the most striking things about animal communication is the variety of
means with which it is carried out. Animals communicate not only with
sounds but with scent, light, ultrasound, visual signs, gestures, colonr, and
even electricity. From the slime mold to the giant blue whale, all animals
appear to have some means of communication. Some non-vocal modes of
communication are described here.

COMMUNICATION

-.,

.. ,:"

t>. , .... ,..

:,.

....

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

,)

626

CONTEMPORARY LINGUISTICS

Scent Chemically based scent communication is used by species as

different as molds, insects, and mammals. Chemicals used by animals
specifically for communicative purposes are called pheremones. A female
moth signals its reproductive readiness through the release of a pheremone
into the air. Only a few of these molecules need to be scented by a male moth
for it to start flying zig-zag upwind towards its potential mate. Dogs and other
canines leave a urine-based pheremone as an identification mark to stake out
their territory, and many non-human primates have specialized scent glands
for the same purpose.

Light Probably the most well-known light user in North America is the
firefly or lightning bug. This small flying beetle uses light flashes in varying
patterns to signal its identity, sex, and location. Different species of these
insects have different and distinguishing light patterns.

c
,
--~"~
~
~-.-:.\
,\.'

~~Ir~~\

Electricity Certain species of eels in the Amazon River basin communicate

their presence and territoriality by means of electrical impulses at various
frequencies. Each species signals at a specific frequency range, and the
transmitting frequencies, like those of radio and television stations, do not
overlap.

e ,

Facial expressions These are specific types of communicative gestures.

When a male baboon yawns, bares its fangs, and retracts its eyebrows, it is
indicating a willingness to fight. A wide and recognizable variety of facial
expressions is found among chimpanzees, a number of which are shown in
Figure 16.1. Experiments have shown that humans ean classify the meanings
of these expressions quite accurately. For example, when humans draw back
the comers of their mouths into a smile, they are generally indicating
co-operation. A non-human primate's smile also indicates non
aggressiveness.

"'I\~''"..~.

Figure 16.1 Some chimpanzee facial expressions: a, anger; b, fear-anger; c, affection;

d, frustration-sadness; ~ playfulness.

, n;';':;:UG.,_~!lII!II!i_III~lI!1liij_II~~f"~lIUM

COMMUNICATION

Underlying the bewildering variety of cOllll1lunicative methods found in

nature are certain common elements. An understanding of these is necessary
for comparing the differences and similarities among systems of communica
tion.

STRUCTURE: THE
STUDY OF SIGNS

Gesture A gesture may be defined as active posturing. Humans wave their

arms in recognition or farewell, dogs wave their tails in excitement, and cats
t1ick their tails when irritated. Many birds perfonn elaborate gestures of
raising and lowering the head or racing back and forth across the water in their
mating rituals. Some fish, such as the male stickleback, perfonn a series of
distinct movements in the water as part of their mating ritual.

"

" :11~{
" : If

Colour The colour (or colour pattern) of many animals plays an important
role in their identification by members of their own species and other animals.
The octopus changes colour frequently and this colouring is used for a range
of messages that include territorial defence and mating readiness.
Posture This is a common communicative device among animals. Dogs,
for example, lower the front part of their bodies and extend their front legs
when they are playful. They lower their whole bodies to the ground when they
are submissive. Postural communication is found in both human and non
human primates as well.

627

2.1

Signs

Nonnally, communication relies on using something to stand for something

else. Words are an obvious example of this: you do not have to have a car, a
sandwich, or your cousin present in order in order to talk about them - the
words car, sandwich, and cousin stand for them instead. This same
phenomenon is found in animal communication as well. Instead of fighting
over territory, for example, many animals produce sounds or make gestures
that threaten and intimidate intruders - the message replaces the attack. Birds
utter warning calls that represent the presence of a threat. A threatening
animal or human need not be seen by other birds before they take flight - the
message replaces visual perception of the threat.
Each of these things that stand for other things is technically known as a
sign. The sign is a unit of communication structure that consists of two parts:
a signifier, be it a word, a scent, a gesture, or an electrical frequency, and

............

"

628

CONTEMPORARY LINGUISTICS
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

1
something signified that exists in the real world, and which is mentally
represented by the sign - the sign's conceptual content. The real World can be
thought of as either external, mental, or emotional, and so what is signified
by a sign can be as diverse as a tree, an abstrdct idea, a perception, or a feeling.
Because their content is conceptual, all signs are associated with Some
meaning, such as 'danger', or 'item of furniture with legs and a flat top'.
Individual instances of signs are called tokens. For example, in the sentence
The baby threw the rattle there are five word tokens, but only four signs; the
occurs twice as a token, but it is the same sign in both instances. Figure 16.2
illustrates these distinctions.

The signifier

A signifier is that part of a sign that stimulates at least one sense organ of the
receiver of a message. The phonological component of the word tree,
represented as Itri:! and pronounced [tp:] is a typical linguistic signifier. A
signifier can also be a picture, a photograph, a sign language gesture, or one
of the many other words for tree in different languages.

The signified

The signified component of the sign refers to both the real world object it
represents and its conceptual content.
The first of these is the real world content of the sign, its extension or
referent (Chapter 7, section 1.3) within a system of signs such as English,
avian communication, or sign language. In our example, the referent is
represented by a drawing since there is nO room to include a real tree between
the pages of this book. (Of course, the signifier [tp:] could also have a picture
of a tree as its referent.) It is easiest to think of referents as concepts or persons
or things but they may be ideas or feelings as well.
The signified component of a sign also evokes an intension (Chapter 7,
section 1.3) to users of the system in question. A word for 'tree' evokes
concepts that probably include 'plant', 'having a trunk', and 'bearing leaves
or needles' in the minds of speakers of any language who are familiar with
trees. Animals appear to conceptualize in terms of classes or categories as
well. Certain monkeys, for example, distinguish among various types of
predators on the basis of size, shape, and motion (see section 5.3)

Sign

Signified

..

..

629

Signifier

2.2

(tri:] - T o k e n

Types of signs

Signs can be divided into three basic types, depending on (1) whether the
signifier naturally resembles its referent, (2) whether the signifier is directly
(causally) linked with the referent in a physical or mechanical sense, or (3)
whether signifier and referent are arbitrarily associated.

Iconic signs

Iconic signs, or icons, always bear some resemblance to their referent (Figure
16.3). A photograph is an iconic sign; so too is a stylized silhouette of a female
or a male on a toilet door. A baboon's open-mouth threat is iconic, resembling
as it does the act of biting. Onomatopoeic words like buzz, splat, and squish
in English and their counterparts in other human languages are also iconic in
that they somewhat resemble what they signify.

~~.'"~
-;",..
'....

Figure 16.2

A sign.

The study of signs is known as semiotics. Semiotics is a field of study that

links many diverse disciplines, among them linguistics, anthropology, philoso
phy, zoology, genetics, literary study, and computer science. An understanding
of signs is essential for understanding how messages are transmitted. To
understand signs better before proceeding on to analysing animal communica
tion, the next section examines their Structure in more detail.

lFfi:'
~II" I~
I '.

.,~......,..,...l
a

....

[bl\z]

e
b

[spire!]

[SkWlf]

\--
~-.L..

Figure 16.3 Some iconic tokens: a, open mouth threat by a Japanese macaque (Macaca fustaca);
b, park recreation signs; c, onomatopoeic words in English.

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

630

&31

CONTEMPORARY LINGUISTICS

We encounter many other symbolic signs in everyday life. The octagonal

shape of a stop sign is symbolic; it bears no inherent connection with the

message it helps to communicate. The colours used in traffic signals are

symbolic as well; red has no more inherent connection with the act of

Icons are widespread in the communication systems of all animals; many

postures and gestures that are critical to animal communication are iconic, as
are the postures and gestures used by humans. Human linguistic communica_
tion, however, does not make extensive use of iconic signs.

Indexical signs

iymbolic signs

An indexical sign, or index, fulfils its function by pointing out its referent,
typicaJly by being a partial or representative sample of it. Indexes are not
arbitrary, since their presence has in some sense been caused by their referent.
For this reason it is sometimes said that there is a causal link between an
indexical sign and its referent. The track of an animal, for example, points to
the existence of the animal by representing a part of it. The presence of smoke
is an index of fIre.
Most important for our discussion here is a specific kind of indexical Sign
called a symptomatic sign, or symptom. Symptomatic signs spontaneously
convey the internal state or emotions of the sender and thus represent the
sender in an indexical manner. For example, the fact that our body
temperature rises when we are ill is a spontaneous reflection of our internal
state. When someone steps on our foot and we cry out, the cry is a
spontaneous reflection of our internal state and thus constitutes a symptomatic
sign.
Since symptomatic signs are spontaneous, we do not consider them to be
deliberately selected by the sender for purposes of communication. We do not
choose to cry out in pain in the same way as we might, for example, decide
to call our dwelling place a house, home, dwelling, or residence in the
appropriate circumstances. As forms of communication, symptomatic signs
are therefore used primarily by the recei ver of a message to assess the internal
state of the sender. Since senders do not deliberately choose to send the signal,
the message is assumed to be essentially out of their control?

Symbolic signs bear an arbitrary relationship to their referents and in this way
are distinct from both icons and indexes. Human language is highly symbolic
in that the vast majority of its signs bear no inherent resemblance or causal
connection to their referents, as the words in Fignre 16.4 show.
hana
maZ;l
talo
kum
berat

?
?
?
?
?

Figure 16.4 Arbitrary sound-meaning correspondence in language.

No phonological property of the words in this Figure gives you any hint
as to their possible meaning. (Han a means 'flower' or 'nose' in Japanese,
maz~ is 'forest' in Kabardian, talo is 'house' in Finnish, kum means 'sand'
in Thrkish, and herat means 'heavy' in Indonesian.)

stopping than yellow.

Mixed signs

Signals

2.3

Sign structure

Graded signs

Signs are not always exclusively of one type or another. Symptomatic signs,
for example, may have iconic properties, as when a dog opens its mouth in
a threat to bite. Symbolic signs snch as traffic lights are symptomatic in that
~ they
reflect the internal state of the mechanism that causes them to change
colour. Still, we classify a sign according to its major property: if it resembles
its referent, it is iconic; if it is linked to its referent in some causal way or
represents it partially in some non-arbitrary way it is indexical (and
symptomatic if it spontaneously expresses some internal state); and if its
relationship to its referent is arbitrary, it is a symbol.

All signs can act as signals when they trigger a specific action on the part of
the receiver, as do traffic lights, words in human language such as the race
starter's 'Go!', or the warning calls of birds. Typically, a signal releases more
energy in the receiver than it takes for the transmitter to send it. For example,
the simple release of a mating pheremone into the wind by a female moth (a
symptomatic sign and also a signal) can cause the male to fly as much as four
miles in search of her. Signals are very common in animal communication,
but only a limited subset of human linguistic activity consists of signalling.

No matter what their type, signs shoW different kinds of structure. A basic
distinction is made between graded and discrete sign structure.

Graded signs convey their meaning by changes in degree. A good example of

a gradation in communication is voice volume. The more you want to be
heard, the louder you speak along an increasing scale of loudness. There are
no steps or jumps from one level to the next that can be associated with a
specific change in meaning.
Gradation is common in many forms of communication. The hands of most
clocks move (or appear to move) in a graded manner, as does the needle of
an automobile speedometer. Many animal signs, snch as the barking of dogs,
are graded as well. A goose has essentially one type of honk, which may
become louder and faster as it takes off in flight, but does not become another
kind of honk. The gradually increasing fear in the facial expression of the
monkey depicted in Fignre 16.5 is also a graded sign.

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
632

633

CONTEMPORARY LINGUISTICS

1'7!~:~

t-~

~ , ~''''

~..~~

,7:.1J-.)
"~' :::."

(
- ...........It''
/.,

"\

over into another type by degrees. Human crying, for example, is interpreted
by experimental subjects as becoming gradually more like screaming as the
audible intake of breath between sobs becomes shorter and shorter. Figure
16.7 illustrates this phenomenon.

'\

s
c
r

e
a
m

"" . \:'"
,\i
1\

Figure 16.5 Some graded tokens: the facial expressions a, b, and c of the macaque monkey represent

just three points on a continuum expressing fear. a, is a neutral face; b, expresses slight

fear; and c, expresses extreme fear. Each expression grades into the next. The hands on
the clock in d express minutes in a graded manner.

Discrete signs

Discrete signs (Figure 16.6) are distinguished from each other by categorical
(stepwise) differences. There is no gradual transition from one sign to the
next. The words of human language are good examples of discrete signs.
There is no intermediate stage between the words stop and go in English
except that which can be expressed by other discrete words or combinations
of words, such as 'start to go'. The digital displays of watches are discrete as
well, since they progress from one minute (or even second) to the next with
no gradation. Traffic lights, too, are discrete signs; there is no gradual shifting
from green to yellow to red.

-
e

s
a
b

/srop/

Cry
(voiced
expiration)

Audible
intake of
breath
Time

/g;JU/

Cry

Figure 16.7 The graded continuum from sobbing to screaming (the height of the stippled and
blackened areas represents the audibility of the vocalization and the width of its time);
both sob and scream are discrete signs, even though each grades into the other.

Figure 16.6 Some discrete signs: a, digital time display; b, traffic lights.

Sign types and

structure

All three types of signs - iconic, indexical/symptomatic, and symbolic - can

be graded or discrete. A photograph is iconic and discrete, but a threatening
canine's gradual baring of its fangs is iconic and graded. Morse code is
symbolic and discrete, but a slowly dimming light that signals the beginning
of a theatrical performance is symbolic and graded. Symptomatic signs, too,

may be discrete (the traffic light again) or graded (the crying of a child or the

act of blushing).

It is possible for a discrete sign to be internally graded, and even to slip

At the extreme ends of the continuum, there is no difficulty interpreting the

sound as one or the other, although it is difficult to say precisely when a 'sob'
becomes a 'scream'. Thus we can say that 'sobbing' and 'screaming' are
discrete symptomatic signs, but each of them is internally graded, and their
gradations overlap. The same is true of many vocalizations in animal
communication.