Identifying something with something it is not ; symbolic signs

“It was widely believed that, in order to get the first languages off the ground, our ancestors first needed a way to create novel signals that could be understood by others, relying on visual signs whose form directly resembled the intended meaning.” This quote is not exactly correct . Words or fully symbolic signs are using something to represent something they are _not_ - a so-called arbitrary relation between sign and thing represented .A picture of something is not fully symbolic, but iconic . The sign resembles what it represents with iconic signs ( though a picture is still not what it represents, its relation to what it represents is not arbitrary) . ( the third type of sign is indexical , like smoke and fire : the relation between sign and thing represented is necessary, not arbitrary) The first words were probably mothers naming children. Names are arbitrary. Not iconic like a picture of the named person . The key thing is developing fully symbolic signs with arbitrary relation between sign and thing signified. THIS ALLOWS DISPLACEMENT ( see attached article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Displacement_(linguistics) ) . Only with displacement is there abstract communication, communication concerning experiences , perceptions, that are not in the communicators concrete current sensations. Displacement gives the capacity to communicate concerning the past and future , including communications from dead generations (!) . Why ? because the sign is _not_ what it represents, so it can go one even after the people whose actions it represents are dead or on the other side of the world . https://owlcation.com/stem/The-difference-between-animal-and-human-communication But at the same time, other animals also communicate: Your cat may let you know when its hungry, ants use pheromones and sound to indicate social status and distress, bees dance to tell one another where to find honey, and chimpanzees can learn sign language. So when we think of language as a way of setting ourselves apart, what is it about our language that is different than how other animals communicate? In the video below, Professor Marc van Oostendorp of the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics discusses three of the major differences between human and animal communication; this article will examine these differences and more. /// Duality of Patterning Distinctive sounds, called phonemes, are arbitrary and have no meaning. But humans can string these sounds in an infinite number of ways to create meaning via words and sentences. Other animals do not communicate by arranging arbitrary sounds, which limits the number of messages they can create. Creativity New words can be invented easily. Animals have to evolve in order for their signs to change. Displacement Humans can talk about remote, abstract, or imaginary things that aren't happening in their immediate environments. Animal communication is context driven—they react to stimuli, or indexes. Interchangeability Any gender of human can use the same languages. Certain animal communications in the animal world can only be used by one gender of that animal. Cultural Transmission Humans acquire language culturally—words must be learned. The way that animals communicate are biological, or inborn. Arbitrariness Human language is symbolic, using a set number of sounds (phonemes) and characters (alphabet), which allows ideas to be recorded and preserved. Animal communication is not symbolic, so it cannot preserve ideas of the past. Biology On a purely biological level, the human voice box and tongue are very unique, and are required to make the sounds we recognize as language. Other animals have different biological structures, which impact they way they make sounds. Ambiguity A word, or sign, can have several meanings. Every sign has only one meaning. Variety Human language can arrange words into an infinite number of ideas, sometimes referred to as discrete infinity. Animals only have a limited number of combinations they can use to communicate. The Main Differences: In Depth While many scholars may add to this list, this article will examine seven properties that are largely unique to human language: duality, creativity, displacement, interchangeability, cultural transmission, arbitrariness, and biology. Duality Duality of patterning: Distinctive sounds, called phonemes, are arbitrary and have no meaning. But humans can string these sounds in an infinite number of ways to create meaning via words and sentences. Duality of patterning: Distinctive sounds, called phonemes, are arbitrary and have no meaning. But humans can string these sounds in an infinite number of ways to create meaning via words and sentences. The primary difference is known as duality of patterning, or structure. Each human language has a fixed number of sound units called "phonemes." These phonemes are combined to make morphemes, the smallest unit of sound that contains meaning. Thus, language has got two levels of patterning that are not present in other animals' communication. Creativity Yet another distinctive feature is creativity. Human beings use their linguistic resources to produce new expressions and sentences. They arrange and rearrange phonemes, morphemes, words, and phrases in a way that can express an infinite number of ideas. This is also called the open-endedness of language. Animal communication is a closed system. It cannot produce new signals to communicate novel events or experiences. Displacement Displacement: Human language can talk about things that aren't happening here or now. Other animals react only to stimuli in the present. Displacement: Human language can talk about things that aren't happening here or now. Other animals react only to stimuli in the present. Human beings can talk of real or imaginary situations, places, or objects far removed from their present surroundings and time. Other animals, on the other hand, communicate in reaction to a stimulus in the immediate environment, such as food or danger. Because of this, human language is considered context-free, whereas animal communication is mostly context bound. Interchangeability Human language is interchangeable between sexes. But certain communications in animal world are performed only by one gender. For example, bee dancing is only performed by worker bees, which are female. Cultural Transmission Cultural Transmission: Human language is culturally transmitted, or taught. Other animals communicate largely with signs they are born knowing. Cultural Transmission: Human language is culturally transmitted, or taught. Other animals communicate largely with signs they are born knowing. Another important difference is that human language is culturally transmitted. Human beings brought up in different cultures acquire different languages. Man can also learn other languages via the influence of other cultures. Animals lack this capacity. Their communication ability is transmitted biologically, so they are unable to learn other languages. Arbitrariness Human language is a symbolic system. The signs, or words, in language have no inherent connection to what they signify, or mean (that's why one object can have so many names in different languages). These signs can also be written with the symbols, or alphabet, of that language. Both verbal and written language can be passed down to future generations. Animal communication is not symbolic, which means ideas cannot be preserved for the future. Biology Biological differences also play a vital role in communication. Human vocal cords can produce a large number of sounds. Each human language uses a number of those sounds. Animal and birds have entirely different biological structures, which impact the way they can form sounds. Does That Mean Animal Communication Never Displays These Properties? Wait: largely unique to human language? Does that mean that other animals can display these properties? It's a matter of debate. One of the most contested examples is Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee named after noted linguist Noam Chomsky, who was taught over 100 signs in sign language in the '70s. Turning hand gestures into meaning certainly displays arbitrariness. But Herbert Terrace, the psychology that led the study doubted that Nim had really learned a language. He noted that Nim very rarely signed spontaneously; instead, he would react to signs his teacher was making. The idea below shows other contested examples of when the line between human and animal communication becomes blurred. Bibliography 1 Kuriakose, K.P., An Introduction to Linguistics, 2002, Gayatrhri Publishers, 7-11 2 Hockett F Charles, A Course in Modern Linguistics, 1970, The Macmillan Company, 570-580 http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2021/05/culturally-inherited-adaptations-give.html Jacob Paul 1) Words are symbolic signs . Symbolic Signs are using something to represent something they are not; or identifying different things with each other . That’s a contradiction . Our language, our basic means of communication , is fundamentally contradictory , paradoxical. The technical terminology is that there is an arbitrary or artificial relationship between a symbolic sign and that which it signifies. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-arbitrariness-language-1689001 This is in contrast with an indexical sign in which there is a necessary or natural relationship between the sign and the thing signified. Smoke is an indexical sign of fire . ( See semiotics) I discovered that DISPLACEMENT IS POSSIBLE WITH SYMBOLIC SIGNS BECAUSE THE SYMBOLIC SIGN IS NOT WHAT IT REPRESENTS. 2) By human species’s unique communication form, individual brains can share the experiences of other brains, including brains that are dead . This is because words allow displacement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Displacement_(linguistics) . 3) Displacement allows dead generations to pass knowledge to future generations BECAUSE THE SYMBOLIC SIGN IS NOT WHAT IT REPRESENTS.