HUMAN LANGUAGE VS ANIMAL LANGUAGE BY: NURHAINIES BINTI ISKANDAR LANGUAGE PROPERTIES ARBITRARINESS HUMAN LANGUAGE Arbitrary Use

se neutral symbol No connection between the linguistic form and its corresponding linguistic meaning or the thing being referred to. Passed on from one generation to the next. Not something inborn but the potential to acquire a language is innate or can be learned. DISCRETENESS The sounds used in language are meaningfully distinct or treated as discrete. Language work on sound system and one sound can change the entire word and its meaning. e.g.: pack back pin - bin Difference in pronunciation The sounds used in animal language are not treated as discrete as it is no clear distinction between the sounds. ANIMAL LANGUAGE Non-arbitrary Consists of a fixed and limited set of (vocal or gestural) forms. A clear connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it. CULTURAL TRANSMISSION AND TRADITION Not being handed from one generation to another Instinctive and not learned.

between /p/ and /b/ sound leads to a difference in meaning.

DUALITY

Language is organised on two levels / double articulation. Physical level at which we can produce individual sounds e.g. n, b, i. Meaning level: when we produce sounds in combination e.g.: nib, bin

Animals communicative signals are fixed and cannot be broken into parts. e.g. meow is not m + e+o+w

DISPLACEMENT

Allows language users to talk about things and events not present in the immediate moment.

Animal communication is designed for the immediate place and time (here and now)

Humans can use language to refer to the past, present and future e.g. last night, now, next week PRODUCTIVITY The capability of humans to continually create new expressions and utterances to describe new objects and situations Have limited set of signals to choose from (fixed reference) Cannot produce any new signals to describe novel experiences.

 The number of utterance in any human language is infinite. STRUCTURE DEPENDENCE Language is dependent on structure syntactical rules E.g. I / love / you OPENNESS The ability to add new words, phrases or other meaningful units to a language. Do not have the ability or creativity to coin new words, phrases or other meaningful units to a language. SEMANTICITY The use of symbol to mean or refer to objects and actions. This means that specific signals can be matched with specific meanings. E.g. jump means the act of leaping in the air. VOCAL AUDITORY CHANNEL Sounds are made with the vocal organs and a hearing mechanism receives them. Same as human, animal also has their own vocal organs and a hearing mechanism receives them. The difference is how they function and produce the sound. RECIPROCITY / INTERCHANGEABILITY This means that the speaker can both receive and Not interchangeable This is distinctive from some animal Produce signal codes to denote a condition rather than referring to a specific object and action. E.g. threat, fear, danger. Language does not dependent on structure.

broadcast the same signal.

communications such as that of the sticklefish. E. g the sticklefish make auditory signals based on gender (basically, the males say "I'm a boy" and the females say "I'm a girl"). However, male fish cannot say "I'm a girl," although they can perceive it. Thus, sticklefish signals are not interchangeable.