Like any other species , do human beings have a common language?

Question

A cow from US can communicate with a cow in India.They have a common language.Is there a common language for all human beings?Perhaps we have lost it in course of time.

Answer 1

Body language (facial expressions, simple hand gestures, etc.). though not always exactly the same among cultures, they'll get what you mean. Like if you make a motion like your taking a drink, it would pretty much universally mean you want something to drink, not that you hate tuna or something.

Answer 2

A universal language is something almost biblical/mythical. Like the "Adamic Language" that was around before the Confusion of Tongues. The only thing that can be considered close to a universal language that is verbal communication, I'm assuming, would be Latin. It used to be the "universal" language of science. The Bible was in Latin, Masses were in Latin. The Romance Languages are based off of Latin words and roots, and most of our English words are based from the Romance Languages which were based from Latin; and there are hundreds of dialects within the Romance Languages. Latin would be the closest thing to a universal language when it comes to verbalization.

Answer 3

The same species of bird cannot necessarily communicate with another bird of the same species because they have different dialects. Humans have the capability of a common language, but we've taken our language capacity to the extreme so it's not really a question of why don't we all speak the same language, but more that we have the ability to speak the same language if we wanted to.

Answer 4

If someone from France who spoke no English gave you the finger could you understand them? Of course, we have non-verbal communication. There are international symbols for many things, such as choking, money, and of course "the finger." I definitely think if you locked 10 people in a room together where everyone spoke a different language you would still see people communicate and have relationships. Also do numbers count as an international language?

Answer 5

I think we can still communicate with other humans on the same level that cows do with each other. A smile, a laugh, a groan, a snarl, a caress, means pretty much the same thing anywhere in the world.

If you're trying to get directions to the nearest bed and breakfast all bets are off...

Answer 6

Animals communicate differently, since they don't have actual words. They let other animals know things by making different kinds of sounds and doing different things with their bodies. Two people that speak different languages would still be able to tell things by a person's tone of voice and body language.

Answer 7

In response to other answerers: Actually, you'd be surprised at how different body language can be. For instance, here, nodding your head means yes, and shaking it means no. But in some other cultures, the exact opposite is true (nodding means no, and shaking means yes). In yet other cultures, nodding and shaking your head means absolutely nothing.

For me, it's not so much body language as emotions. If you laugh, others know you're happy. When you cry, others know you're sad. That's what's universal.

Answer 8

We have over 200 non verbal ques that are universal, but to say that animals have a universal language is an overstatement. If you look amongst the primates, vocalizations have different meanings amongst different populations.

Answer 9

There's a common language. It's babblefish.com.

Answer 10

Love