All living creatures have some means of
conveying information to others of their own group, communication being
ultimately essential for their survival. Some use vocal noises, others physical
movement or facial expression. Many employ a variety of methods. Birds use
predominantly vocal signals, but also show their intentions by body movements;
animals use vocal noises as well as facial expressions like the baring of teeth;
insects use body movements, the most famous of which are the various ‘dances’
of the bees.
Man is able to exploit a range of
techniques of communica-tion. Many are in essence the same as those used by
other creatures. Man is vocal, he uses his body for gestures of many kinds, he
conveys information by facial expression, but he has extended these three basic
techniques by adding the dimension of representation. Thus both speech and
gesture can be represented in picture form or symbolically and conveyed
beyond the immediate context.
It is unfortunate that the word language
is often used to cover all forms of communication, and that the term animal language
is common. These expressions obscure a very important distinction between
communication which is basically a set of signals, and communication which is
truly language, human language. Man, in
common with other creatures, uses signals, but he also uses language with a subtlety
and complexity and range far beyond anything known to exist among other forms
of life.
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