Human Language vs Animal Communication – Linguistics Study Guide, Key Differences and Comparative Analysis

Human Language vs Animal Communication – Linguistics Study Guide, Key Differences and
Comparative Analysis



Shared characteristic - ANS ✔✔-mode of communication

-semanticity: have meaning

-pragmatics: useful function



How they differ - ANS ✔✔-Interchangeability

-Cultural transmission/variability

-arbitrariness

-discreteness

-displacement

-productivity and recursion

-duality of patterning/reliance on context

-prevarication

-reflexiveness

-learnability



Interchangeability - ANS ✔✔Two-way communication via same medium



Cultural transmission/variability - ANS ✔✔System not entirely inherited (Russia vs France vs
New York)

-part of mechanisms are innate, but specific languages are learned



Arbitrariness - ANS ✔✔Form of signals not logically related to meaning (vs animals: eg. bark at
door)