Non-Human Communication

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the various research and experiments being used to determine if animal communication in fact exists. Recent research on hummingbirds, songbirds and parrots has shown their ability to learn and continue learning new sounds and to use syntax to arrange them in ever more complex ways. In recent decades researchers all over the world have studied animal communication patterns that appear to approximate human communication. This paper also contains detailed research on the subject by various experts in the field of animal communication including Robert Manell and Marian Belsack.

From the Paper:

"It is safe to say, based on these experiments, that there is some validity and correlation between this nonhuman communication effort and Hockett's criteria for language. Nevertheless, criteria and science aside, the basic question of why we need to turn other animals into a form of "human" has never been fully answered. We are at the stage that divides the overweight society dame with her little manicured poodle, all dressed in baby clothes to whom she coos in baby-talk from the serious scientist who tries to decipher some common means of understanding our lesser brethren."

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