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The manner in which species communicate is usually structured based on some understanding but
it often varies significantly. Language is what distinguishes man from other species who communicate
mainly through sounds and pheromones. As rational beings, humans send and decipher messages more
comprehensively through a combination of sounds, tonal variation, gestures, and body language. The
congruence between these forms is what entails proper communication. Essentially, language abilities are
said to be ‘hard wired’ into the human brain.
There are various properties that draw the line between communication systems for man and
other species: displacement, flexibility, duality of patterning, and nature. When other species
communicate, they usually respond to stimuli or indexes in that their mode of communication is driven by
context. Human beings, on the other hand, have the ability to talk about abstract things that do not apply
in their immediate context (New York Council for Humanities). This property is called displacement.
Human language is flexible in that it grows and meaning can change over time. Animals, however, have
to make evolutionary milestones for their communication set to change. Human and animal
communication also differs by nature in that while the former has the ability to learn language, the latter’s
mode of communication is inborn. Finally, people have the ability arrange phonemes and other distinctive
sounds in a way that constructs sentences to create meaning; this property, which other species lack, is
called duality of patterning. Animals are incapable of creating meaning, which limits the ability of a
person deciphering meaning in the absence of context.
Name
Course
Tutor
Date
With and Without Words
The manner in which species communicate is usually structured based on some understanding but
it often varies significantly. Language is what distinguishes man from other species who communicate
mainly through sounds and pheromones. As rational beings, humans send and decipher messages more
comprehensively through a combination of sounds, tonal variation, gestures, and body language. The
congruence between these forms is what entails proper communication. Essentially, language abilities are
said to be ‘hard wired’ into the human brain.
There are various properties that draw the line between communication systems for man and
other species: displacement, flexibility, duality of patterning, and nature. When other species
communicate, they usually respond to stimuli or indexes in that their mode of communication is driven by
context. Human beings, on the other hand, have the ability to talk about abstract things that do not apply
in their immediate context (New York Council for Humanities). This property is called displacement.
Human language is flexible in that it grows and meaning can change over time. Animals, however, have
to make evolutionary milestones for their communication set to change. Human and animal
communication also differs by nature in that while the former has the ability to learn language, the latter’s
mode of communication is inborn. Finally, people have the ability arrange phonemes and other distinctive
sounds in a way that constructs sentences to create meaning; this property, which other species lack, is
called duality of patterning. Animals are incapable of creating meaning, which limits the ability of a
person deciphering meaning in the absence of context.
