I was wondering if animals use language.?

Question

how do they communicate???

Answer 1

Most animals have some way of communicating with their fellows.

For example, crows seem to use Ra! and Ra-ah-ah! as signals relating to "danger." They also use something that sounds like "Kæh-qo, " sometimes follwed by a "kuck-kuck-kuck" sound to express pleasure or happiness.

Eastern Gray Squirrels seem to signal "danger" with a gutteral "nghii" sound. They will also use body language like flashing their tails and gnashing their teeth to warn each other of a serious danger nearby such as a cat, dog, raccoon etc.

The raccoons in my back yard can seem to communicate with each other through a system of whines and whistles. Some of these could be loosely translated into human speech to mean stuff like "Get back here!," "Get down from that tree!," "Come on, let's go!" (¡Vámonos!) and even "Go away you cad!" when said by a female raccoon angry at her mate.

Scientists have discovered that cats indeed have up to 18 sounds which seem to have specific meanings. At one place where I lived, I remember a female alley cat, everyone called her Spooky, who would always come up to my window and say "Ow!" when she was hungry. When she gave her kittens food that I had given her, she would always call them with "Buh wow-wow!" to announce that dinner was ready.

There is an article in the May-June 2007 issue of "American Scientist" by Michael C. Corballis which is worth reading. He argues that what makes human language unique is something called "recursive thinking."

So far, scientists have not found any examples of a recursive structure in the communications systems of non-human animals with any certainty. However, they still think that they might exist. One possible candidate is a bird called the European starling according to Corballis.

In the opinion of some people, the discovery of recursive systems in non-human animals would be positive proof that they have a language. Otherwise, they argue, what they have is just a "code" and not a "language."

So, some of it all depends on how you define the word 'language." Nevertheless, personally, I feel that no matter how you define it, for all practical purposes animals do have languages of their own which they use.

Answer 2

Most animals use body language and their form of sign language but some animals like whales or dolphins have some form of song they communicate in. Birds usually communicate by chirping and the sounds they make have some meaning to their own species.

Answer 3

Human to dog, there would be barriers. But not dog to dog. There may be slight customs, but dogs have the same language just about anywhere you go. The worst problem would be more along the lines of if they never saw a dog like that before. For instance, greyhounds often only see greyhounds during their racing days. When they get out of racing, and see a labrador, or a great dane, or pomeranian, these are completely strange dogs to their way of thinking. And then you have the dogs who have communication faults, for instance floppy ears that are hard to read, or faces that are one color so you can't see their mouth and eyes as well, or a curled tail/no tail, or really long fur that obscures everything.

Answer 4

Body language

Answer 5

They communicate with one another, and the sound they make, the movement the make is called language, which we understand little.

Answer 6

I read somewhere that animals have basic language skills, but no syntax. Apparently they do not have the capacity to distinguish between "the dog chased the cat" and "the cat chased the dog."

Answer 7

They don't use words the way we do, but they use body language, gestures, scents (pheromones), and sounds.
Elephants also use infrasound (too low for humans to hear), dolphins and whales use ultrasound (too high for us to hear).