The Difference Between Human Language and Animal C

语言研究

Th# Difference BetwccnHumanLanguag#

and Animal Communication

韩晓鹏

【Abstract】

Human

language

is

generally

accepted

to

be

unique

;

some

distinguisliing

features

of

argued

,

separate

it

from

animal

communication

.

The

article

compares

these

features

between

language

and

animal

communication,discussing

whether

the

difference

between

them

is

qualitative

or

quantitative

.

【Keywords

】language

animal

communication

properties

qualitative

quantitative

langu

—# Introduction

Whether

animal

communication

is

essentially

different

from

human

language

seems

a

easy

question

and

would

be

regarded

meaningless

by

many

people

.

Nonetheless

,

the

research

about

the

true

nature

of

animal

communication

would

provide

us

more

perspectives

and

a

better

understanding

of

human

language

,

which

,

in

turn

may

exert

favorable

effects

on

linguistics

,

translation

theories

,

second

language

acquisition

,

etc

.

Today

most

people

have

agreed

that

animals

can

communicate

in

various

ways

,

but

insisted

that

animal

communication

is

not

a

kind

of

language

.

The

controversies

revolve

around

two

basic

questions

： 1 •

Is

the

difference

between

human

intelligence

and

animal

intelligence

qualitative

or

quantitative

? 2.

Is

the

difference

between

human

language

and

animal

communication

qualitative

or

quantitative

?

The

first

question

involves

animal

cognition

,

ethology

,

behavioral

ecology

,

evolutionary

psychology

,

etc

.

There

is

more

and

more

evidence

showing

that

some

animals

do

have

memories

,

self

-

consciousness

,

the

ability

to

reason

and

plan

(

Johansson

,

2001 )•

This

article

will

focus

on

the

second

enquiry

i

more

detail

in

the

next

sections

,

discussing

the

distinguishing

features

which

have

been

argued

to

)eparate

language

from

animal

communication

re

)

pectively

.

二、

The definition of animal communication and

language

Animal

communication

is

any

behaviour

on

the

part

of

one

animal

that

has

an

effect

on

the

current

or

future

behaviour

of

another

animal

(

Here

the

animal

refers

to

non

-

human

)

(

wikipedia

) .

As

for

the

language

definition

,

u

A

language

is

a

systematic

m>ans

of

communicating

id>as

or

f>>lings

by

th

>

us

>

of

conventionalized

signs

,

sounds

,

gestures

,

or

marks

having

understood

meanings

”（

Crystal

& 2000 : 400 )•

Most

definitions

of

language

involve

two

elements

：

a

system

of

symbols

and

the

expression

of

thought

.

The

expression

of

thought

involves

animal

cognition

.

This

issue

has

been

briefly

discussed

in

the

first

part

.

Here

I’ll

focus

on

“a

system

of

symbols

”.

Some

researchers

have

argued

that

there

are

properties

of

language

that

make

it

significantly

different

from

animal

communication

.

But

recent

experiments

have

shown

that

many

of

these

properties

seemnot

so

unique

.

三、

The properties of human language

The

properties

of

human

language

,

that

it

is

argued

make

human

language

unique

are

：

arbitrariness

,

discreteness

,

duality

,

productivity

,

cultural

transmission

and

displacement

. (

Crystal

,

2000;

wikipedia

)

First

,

arbitrariness

:

in

human

language

,

the

relation

between

a

sound

or

sign

and

its

meaning

is

arbitrary

.

Most

animal

vocalizations

are

supposed

to

be

affective

,

like

the

dog’s

bark

or

the

grunt

of

a

pig

.

But

a

study

of

thie

alarm

calls

of

vervet

monkeys

(Seyfarthi

et

al

,1980；

cited

in

Johansson

,2001 )

may

shake

this

opinion

.

The

monkeys

have

three

dfferent

alarm

calls

for

three

kinds

of

predators

(

snakes

,

leopards

,

and

eagles

)•

One

thing

one

needs

to

pay

attention

to

is

that

these

calls

don’t

seem

iconic

(Carstairs

-

McCarthy

, 1996 ;

cited

in

Johansson

,2001 )•

None

of

the

calls

sounds

like

the

sounds

of

predators

.

These

calls

not

only

seem

intentional,but

also

seem

arbitrary

.

Second

,

discreteness

:

the

units

in

the

language

are

discrete

,

i

.

e

. ,

they

clearly

contrast

with

each

other

.

People

use

a

combination

of

these

units

to

create

meaning

.

Most

animal

vocalizations

are

constant,but

there

are

exceptions

.

The

celebrated

bonobo

,

Kanzi

,

had

learned

348

lexigrams

by

2006,

and

understands

over

3000

English

words

(

wikipedia

).

His

ability

to

understand

simple

grammatical

sentences

strongly

suggests

that

animals

can

comprehend

the

combinations

of

discrete

units

.

Third

,

duality

:

Language

works

on

two

levels

-

the

sounds

of

language

don’t

have

meaning

,

but

the

combinations

of

sounds

have

meaning

.

Most

animals

only

use

one

basic

sound

to

communicate

,

but

humans

use

various

combinations

of

sounds

to

convey

meaning

.

However

,

the

scope

of

human

hearing

ability

is

very

limited

compared

with

some

animals

.

The

frequency

range

of

human

hearing

is

16 -20000

Hz,dogs

can

hear

up

to

38000

Hz

.

The

auditor

and

vocal

apparatuses

between

human

and

animals

are

enormously

dfferent

,

there

are

so

many

animal

sounds

that

humans

can’t

detect

or

interpret

,

it

would

be

too

early

and

arrogant

to

claim

that

duality

only

belongs

to

human

language

.

Fourth

,

productivity

:

a

finite

number

of

units

can

be

used

to

produce

an

infinite

number

of

meanings

.

The

number

of

meanings

animals

use

to

communicate

are

considered

limited

and

fixed

.

But

“

use

finite

to

express

infinite

”

is

also

a

property

of

songs

of

birds

and

whales

;

at

least

they

express

limited

meanings

by

infinite

combinations

of

units

(

Johansson

,2001).

Fifth

,

cultural

transmission

:

Language

is

passed

from

one

user

to

another

,

or

one

generation

to

the

next

.

Most

animal

communication

is

transmitted

genetically

,

e

.

g

.

bee

dance

.

But

some

is

transmitted

from

one

animal

to

the

next

.

E

.

g

. ,

chimps

in

the

experiments

learned

sign

language

not

only

from

their

trainer

,

(下转第147页）

• 89 -

社会文化探析

状况和老人们的具体生活需求，制定出科学合理的养老服

务业的实施方案、未来发展目标以及对应的政策和方法。

在对已经实施详细分化的老年性的供需结构分析，开展不

同种类的养老服务业，不断的扩张养老服务业的涉及范围；

比如老人的休闲养生、日常生活照顾、精神上安抚、社交

娱乐以及养老理财方面的服务等，充分的满足了多样化的

和多层次化的养老需求，通过这种方式来优化养老服务业

的供给结构®。

(三） 发展全新的养老服务业的服务模式

发展全新模式下的养老服务工作，可以有效提升养老

服务业的整体工作效率。从一方面上来讲，要想对养老服

务业的服务模式实施省级，我们可以鼓励和发展“互联网

+ ”养老的发展模式，建立起有效的养老服务业综合性的

发展平台，不断推动“医养结合”模式的开展。积极的开

发和研究智能化的养老模式，大力推广科技技术层次较高

的养老设施的运用，让老年人去感受科技发展带来的新感

受。另一个方面，提升对老年人的护理性人才的培养，提

升对老年人服务工作者的综合性素质，有效的完善职业技

能和养老服务人员经济收人，充分的展现出老年人护理工

作人员在社会当中的地位和优良的待遇。

(四） 推动体制优化改革，完善养老服务业配套制度

在地方政府需要不断的对养老服务业政策实施正确的

优化改革，就必须要对财政税收的体制、土地管理体制、

融资的管理体制等，充分明确地方政府和中央政府权力的

有效划分，不断提升对养老服务业的财政投人的力度，在

养老服务业中所占用的各种资源，如房屋建设用地、资金

投人、服务技术开发等方面提供出充足的扶持性政策，并

且对企业的所得税以及个人所得税实施优化改革，推动老

年人的医疗卫生工作的改革，对其中的相关的企业施以优

惠性的税收政策，并且对主动承担赡养老人义务的成年子

女的所得税进行扣除，不断的推动办公养老机制的改革工

作， 现有 源实 革， 大 度 提升养老 源

的使用率®。

四、结语

本文对供给侧改革在我国养老服务业发展中出现的问

题进行分析，对我国养老服务业的发展需要从供给侧的改

革、对养老服务业中出现的问题进行有效的解决，并且还

需要有效的调整养老服务业的供给结构等方面开始着手进

行，我国在养老服务行业方面的发展速度比较的缓慢，表

现出一种供给能力不足的现象，不能有效的满足社会人口

增长的养老需求，因此，做好养老服务行业工作对我国人

口老龄化的问题起到了一定的积极作用。

注释：

① 邹铭.积极应对人口老龄化加快形成中国养老服务业发展

新格局[

J

].中国民政，2015(10):10~11.

② 邹铭.民政部：矢力构筑中国养老服务业发展新格局[

J

].

社会福利，2015(05):5 ~6.

③ 王德荣.人口老龄化背景下中国经济发展与养老服务业现

状分析[

J

].经贸实践，2016(18):37.

④ 吴宾，刘雯雯.中国养老服务业政策文本量化研究（1994 ~

2016 年）[

J

].经济体制改革，2017(04):20 ~26.

⑤ 社会化、产业化发展，养老服务业迈上新台阶——第二届

中国国际养老服务业博览会侧记[

J

].科技智囊，2013 (06):

8 ~ 12.

参考文献：

[1]焦洋.社区居家养老模式下谈中国养老服务业发展[

J

].

现代商业，2017(19):186 ~187.

(作者单位：辽阳职业技术学院）

(上接第89页）

but

also

from

other

chimps

.

The

“

dialects

"

of

birdsongs

(

Wiener

， 1986；

Baker

， 1996；

cited

in

Johansson

， 2001 )

also

showed

some

featiures

of

cultiural

transmission

.

Sixth

，

displacement

:

Language

could

be

used

to

talk

about

events

that

are

remote

spatially

or

temporally

.

Most

animal

cries

can

only

reflect

the

immediate

situations

.

But

the

bee

dance

may

be

the

most

obvious

exception

.

It

always

conveys

the

information

that

is

spatially

remote

(

the

position

of

the

food

) (

Crystal

，

2000).

四

、Conclusion

Noam

Chomsky

used

to

say

that

claiming

chimps

can

talk

is

like

claiming

humans

can

fly，for

humans

can

fly

(

jump

)

about

30

feet

in

the

Olympics

，

which

is

totally

meaningless

.

(

Johnson

， 1995 )

But

as

more

and

more

experiments

about

animal

language

are

conducted

more

scientifically

，

there

are

increasingly

more

different

opinions

.

As

I

argued

in

section

3，

many

properties

of

language

that

were

supposed

to

separate

it

significantly

from

animal

communication

now

can

be

attained

by

chimps

and

some

otlier

animals

.

Hence

its

too

early

to

draw

any

conclusion

about

qualitative

or

quantitative

difference

between

human

language

and

animal

communication

，

more

research

will

be

warranted

.

参考文献：

[1 ]

Crystal

D

.

The

Cambridge

Encyclopedia

of

Language

[

M

].

2

nd

edition

.

Beijing

:

Foreign

Language

Teaching

and

Research

Press

&

Cambridge

University

Press

，2000.

[2 ]

Johansson

S

.

Animal

communication

，

animal

mind

，

and

animal

language

[

D

] [

OL

] .

http

://

hem

.

hj

.

se

/ 〜

lsj

/

langevoc

.

pdf

，2001.

[3]

Johnson

G

.

Chimp

Talk

Debate

:

Is

It

Really

Language

? [

OL

].

The

New

York

Times

，

http

://

www

.

santafe

.

edu

/% 7

Ejohnson

/

articles

,

chimp

,

html

，1995.

( 作 : 大学 学 )

作者简介：韩晓鹏（1980-)，男，汉族，河北沧州人，

硕士，三峡大学科技学院，讲师，研究方向：英语教育、

翻译。

• 147 -