Difference between human language and animal communication
Like human beings animals also communicate with one another through their communication systems which are called animal languages such as language of dolphins, language of bees. Animals have both discrete and non-discrete systems of communication but their messages as well as symbols are limited in quantity and dimension. On the other hand, human languages are much more surprisingly unlimited. Now we will discuss differences between human language and animal communication.
The communication systems of most animals are instinctive. They inherit them genetically. None can separate animals from their inbuilt qualities. On the contrary, human language is non-instinctive. Humans can acquire and learn any thing and any language as a result of social interaction. For example, a baby and a puppy are growing up in the same environment hearing mostly the same thing. But about two years later the baby will make human noises while the puppy will not. In addition, Mowgli in the Jungle Bookgrew up in the animal environment and his communication systems became like animals.
Because of its having arbitrariness, human language is conditioned by geography- its culture, social and natural environment. The linguistic sign of the same object may differ from one geographical region to another. For example, what is called by the English to be ‘dog’ is called ‘perro’ by the Spanish, ‘sobaka’ by the Russian and ‘inee’ by the Japanese. On the other hand animal communication is not conditioned by geography. For instance, the dogs of all countries have the same system of message and symbols.
Animal communication is devoid of ‘novelty’, ‘creativity’ and ‘multiplicity’ to produce apt utterances according to different situations. Most animals have limited number of messages or symbols they can send or receive. While human language possesses the qualities. A human being can even in a most unlikely situation utter a sentence which has nev