LINGUISTIC / 3

SEMESTER C1

TEAM #
1

COMMUNICATION
The communication occurs due to
the ability of the speakers to produce
and understand and unlimited number of
utterances, including many that are new or
Unfamiliar for them.

E
G
A
U
G
AN

A system of communication,
medium of thought, a vehicle for
literary expression

Are we the only species

which
possesses language?

Let us compare animal

communication
systems with human
language

LANGUAGE PROPERTIES
D u a l i t y o f p a t t e r n i n g
C r e a t i v i t y
D i s p l a c e m e n t
I n t e r c h a n g e a b i l i t y
C u l t u r a l Tr a n s m i s s i o n
A r b i t r a r i n e s s
B i o l o g y
A m b i g u i t y
Va r i e t y
4

DUALITY OF PATTERNING
It is the ability to recombine small units. (sounds/ words)Similar to
productivity (new sentences)

IS DUALITY OF PATTERNING
UNIQUE TO HUMAN
COMMUNICATION?
When birds produce single notes they are
meaningless, but when they are combined they convey
meaningful messages.

DISPLACEMENT
We can refer
to past,
present and
future time,
and others
locations, no
only the here
and now.

CAN WE FIND DISPLACEMENT

IN ANIMAL COMMUNICATION?
When a worker bee finds a
source of nectar she returns to
the hive to perform a complex
dance which informs the other
bees of its location: a round
dance the nectar is close to
the hive; a waggle dance in
which she wiggles her tail from
side to side if it is far away.

CULTURAL
TRANSMISSION
The learning of language occurs in social groups.

CAN WE TEACH A HUMAN

LANGUAGE TO ANIMALS?
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. Koko uses a lot of ASL
(American Sign Language ) signs.

CREATIVITY
The ability to create new messages by combining alreadyexisting signs.

New words can be invented easily.

Animals have to evolve in

order for their signs to
change

INTERCHANGEABILITY
A user can both receive and broadcast the same signal

Any gender of human can use the

same languages.

Certain animal communications

in the animal world can only be
used by one gender of that
animal.

ARBITRARINESS

There is no (necessary) connection between the

form of signal and its meaning

In human language, there is

no link whatsoever between
the signal and the message.

In animal
communication,
there is often a
strong recognizable
link between the
actual signal and the
message an animal
wishes to convey.

OTHERS
Biology

On a purely biological
level, the human voice
box and tongue are
very unique, and are
required to make the
sounds we recognize
as language.

Other animals have

different biological
structures, which
impact they way they
make sounds.

Ambiguity

A word, or sign, can

have several
meanings.

Every sign has only

one meaning.

Variety

Human language can

arrange words into an Animals only have a
infinite number of
limited number of
ideas, sometimes
combinations they can
referred to as discrete use to communicate.
infinity.

HOW DO ANIMALS
COMMUNICATE?

Visual signals
Auditory signals
Variety
of
differe
nt
signals

Olfactory signals
(chemical
signals)
Electro signals
Touch signals (tactile)
Seismic signals

1. VISUAL SIGNALS
Gesture
Facial expression
Gaze following
Color change
Bioluminescent

1. VISUAL SIGNALS

a/ Gesture: display of distinctive body parts, or distinctive bodily

movements

1. VISUAL SIGNALS
b/ Facial expression

1.VISUAL SIGNALS
c/ Gaze following: the abilities of animals to follow the gaze of
those they interact with (members of their own species or
humans)

Ayumu looked at the

target object at which the
experimenter pointed

1. VISUAL SIGNALS
d/ Color Change

The male
American
goldfinch

Cardinal

1. VISUAL SIGNALS
e/ Bioluminescent

Anglerfish

2. AUDITORY
Use sound to communicate

3. OLFACTORY (CHEMICAL
SIGNALS)
Communication through smell and taste

skunk

cat

4.ELECTRO
Receive vibrations in the water

Aquatic animals

5. TOUCH (TACTILE)
Communicate through touch

6. SEISMIC

HUMAN LANGUAGE VS
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
In human language, the symbols are mostly arbitrary
and the system has to be painstakingly.
Duality and displacement are rare in the animal world.
Creativity seems not to be present in any natural
communication system possessed by animals.
Language is a patterned system of arbitrary sound
signals, characterized by structure dependence,
creativity, displacement, duality and cultural
transmission.