Human Language
 Language is the most effective method of human communication. The term language is derived from the Latin word lingua meaning tongue. Human language is in organized form. It is an open entity, new words or meanings may come into use. Language is as important as breathing. Barnett says, “Verbal communication is a condition of the existence of human society.”
Language helps man in several ways. It enables him to reach back into collective knowledge of his ancestors. It is through language that human beings collect and preserve knowledge and transfer it to the next generation. Most of the linguists disclose the fact that human language has different types of realizations such as written form, spoken form. Human language has signifier and signified.
Animal communication
 Animals also can communicate. Some animals and birds like dog, dolphins, gibbons, herring gulls and honey bees have developed their own system of communication. But their communication system differs from human communication. Animal communication lacks flexibility and creativity. Their communication tradition is acquired genetically and not through learning.
Human language has got certain properties which makes it unique and different from animal communication system. These properties are duality, creativity, displacement, arbitrariness, interchangeability etc.
The main differences between animal and human communications.
 The primary difference between human communication and animal communication is the duality of structure of human language. Each human language has got a fixed number of sound units called phonemes. These phonemes are combined to make morphemes. Thus language has got two levels of patterning which is not prevailed in animal communication.
 Yet another distinctive feature of human communication is creativity. Human beings use their linguistic resources to produce new expressions and new sentences. They arrange and rearrange phonemes, morphemes, words and phrases to create new modes of expression.