Language and Animals

Professor Marc Hauser discusses the differences and similarities between humans and primates in terms of language ability.

To think about the uniquely human capacities of language and those that are shared in common, it is probably important to distinguish three relevant components of language. One, we might think of the sort of syntax or grammar, the kind of rules of language. The second are the semantics or the thoughts. The third are the sort of sensory and motor systems that hook up with the concepts to create words. So, if we then ask, well of those pieces, what do we share with other animals and what is unique, I think were share almost entirely the perceptual systems, to hear the distinctions within speak, to produce those kinds of sounds. Those seemed to be shared across other animals. When it comes to the concepts, here again we find some of the same kinds of conceptual abilities in other animals that we find in humans. To me, the difference lies in some of the grammars or rules that humans use to combine and recombine the elements to create a kind of infinite variety of meaningful expressions. And there we might just add that when animals also fail to do is, what we do everyday when we create words, which is we combine some arbitrary sound with some kind of meaning. So we can choose, by convention to say this is a band or a wand or whatever we want, if by convention, we agree, off goes the word. So, the critical thing is the arbitrary association between sound and meaning, which gives us our words, and secondly, the rules by which we combine these words to create an infinite variety of expressions.