Language is considered to be a very complex form of communication that occurs among the human race. Humans use words while talking to express their needs and wants and they cry, slouch and make faces when they want to express feelings. Animals, or in other words non-humans also show signs of communication such as a dog wagging its tail when excited or a bird singing a song to attract the opposite sex.
However do animals have their language?
Researchers say that animals, non-humans, do not have a true language like humans. However they do communicate with each other through sounds and gestures. Animals have a number of in-born qualities they use to signal their feelings, but these are not like the formed words we see in the human language. Human children show these same forms of communication as babies when crying and gesturing. But they slowly learn the words of the language and use this as form of communication.
If human children were separated at birth away from humans they would not learn the words of the language and would not be able to communicate with other humans. They would resort to sounds and gestures as their primary form of communication. However, in the animal kingdom if they are reared alone from birth they are still able to behave and communicate in the same way as other species of their kind.
Dogs can be trained to follow certain commands such as sit, come and roll over, but does this mean they understand language. Dogs are known to be experts at reading their owners intentions and that they do not respond to actual words but the tone in which it is said. Birds that are in captivity are known to be able to talk- it is believed that it does not mean anything to them and they are merely copying sounds they hear.
There is no doubt that animals communicate with each other to one degree or another in response to different stimuli such as hunger or fear. Human language is creative and consists of unique characteristics that give us the ability to engage in abstract and analytical ways. So can it be said animals do not have a true language like us humans.
Credits: Sabitha
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