HESP120 Module 12- Animal communication

Design features of a language

• Symbolic; mostly non-iconic

• Infinitely creative

• Hierarchically-structured

• Rule-governed

• Spontaneously acquired by infants

Huam language: discrete combinatorial system 

Bird communication

• Use calls or songs to communicate 

• Both are stimulus-bound (no displacement) and non-combinational (limited messages) 

  • Calls: simple pattern, short bursts 

    • Function: warning and coordinate flocking 

    • Innate: based on instinct, not taught or learned 

  • Song: elaborate pattern, complex pitch (symbolic) 

    • Function: only males sing 

    • Innate: triggered during a critical period due to early exposure to patterns 

• Vocalization

  • Holistic and unambiguous

• *Level of complexity varies depending on the species 

Bee communication 

• Forager bees (female workers) are able to communicate the location and distance of a food source (or potential nest site) to other bees back in the hive 

• Dance 

  • Infinitely variable but semantically limited (only communicate about food source) 

  • Distance → iconic (more time in the central portion to communicate distance) 

  • Distance → iconic (represents the orientation of the flight pattern)

  • Food source quality → symbolic (vivacity of dance is not inherently linked to quality) 

  • Displacement 

    • Information about something not in the immediate environment (limited to food) 

  • Innate 

    •  Dance the first outing

Primate communication 

• East African Vervet Monkey 

  • Calls for different predators: 

    • Response to call for eagles: look up or run into the bushes

    • Response to call for snake: look down at the ground nearby

    • Response to call for large mammal (esp. leopards): run up a tree or climb higher

  • Combination of innate and learned (refine when to use) 

Symbolic, stimulus-bound (no displacement), and non-combinational (limited messages)