Do Animals Have A Language

[Preya_M]

I agree with what the others are saying in the thread, I'm pretty sure that animals have their own languages, otherwise they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other. Don't you find it funny how you can really understand what a dog is saying, but when you put another dog beside that dog, they seem to communicate in their own way? Same goes with birds, how do they always travel in flocks? Surely their is some sort of language being used there.

[sos]

I think that they do have some kind of language because I mean they do understand each other.But I think that it is distinct with every species.

[TheHandThatThieves]

Ooooh boy, you've opened a real can of worms with this question! The long and short of it is that it all boils down to exactly how you choose to define "language". Obviously, animals all have their own communication systems and these can all be evaluated against Hockett's design features to see how they hold up. New research is always forthcoming but I guess I'd have to say that I feel that although animals have communication systems that are certainly more complex than we might initially speculate, you have to be very careful when describing them as a "language".

[True2marie]

Animals definitely have a language. Science has already proven that Chimpanzees and dolphins communicate with their own kind. It's how they socialize with each other. 

The former (chimps) have been taught to talk to humans as well.