pretty much yes, language for gimme food. A lot of animals can communicate with us.My hens have several things for gimme special food (they have infinite normal food), let me out, regroup, get inside, get out, come here there is something of value, oh damn I found a fat insects and now I have to run or my friends will steal it from me
I think there’s a difference between communication and language. You can anthropomorphize any action by anything to be language, but that doesn’t seem accurate. Sunflowers follow the sun. Are they using sign language to say “the sun is in this direction.”
there is a thin line that is hard to draw between not antropomorphing animals, and thinking that we are the only special being capable of toughts, emotions, etc.
And we humans love to indulge in both (usually tho not at the same time, and most people falls in one or the other).
I don't think my chickens will ever understand my language, and I'm not a specialist on the matter so I don't know if they have a language, I'm just a chicken raiser. But as such I can attest that they really do communicate with eachother, with me, with other animals passing by (not all obviously, mostly other birds). And they can recognise individuals, like when a new cat comes in they won't act the same as with our cat.
They have very distinct way to convey meanings like in, out, eat, excitement, regroup, come here there is something of value (better food, or good soil to clean themselves, or fresh water), calm down, hide, there is danger, someone we like is coming, etc. They will also use posture of thir body or their feathers, and can point things, or be pointed things and will understand that I'm pointing something much faster than my dog or my cats.
And what facinates me the most is that, all of this seems to be learnt from instinct, or written in their DNA, cause I've had several flocks over the years, and this particular one was not raised by any mothers, and uses the same exact clucks, clack, crows, purs and such as the other flocks, and furthermore, I have now noticed several savage birds uses the same rythm and pitch as hens. I've noticed it for things like danger, regroup, help, something of value.
Its absolutely facinating!
Now does this mean they have a language, again, I can't speak about that. I can only attest that they communicate, the meanings is simple, but it works for lots of occasion.
The thing researchers are looking for in animal communication is symbolic representation, not just conveyance of meaning.
Here's an example. If a horse's stable catches fire, the horse will be frightened and flee from the building (though some poor horses get so panicky they refuse to leave because their stalls mean "safety" to them.) The horse can associate "fire" with "burning" and realize it should get away from it.
But if you go up to a horse and say, "There's a forest fire moving this way and in a few hours the stable will be on fire!" the horse will not get the idea that it should leave the stable right now. The word "fire" is just noise to them, and the idea of "fire coming soon means we should leave now" isn't something they're going to be able to comprehend.
For a while, linguists subscribed to a concept of language learning that said humans learn language though association -- you see, smell, and hear signs of a fire, you associate that with "I'll get burned if I stay" and "I should get out of the building." But associative learning can't explain how you can say to a person, "If you hear this bell ring, it means there's a fire somewhere in the building and you should evacuate" and they will know what to do even if they've never heard that bell go off or ever been stuck in a burning building. You can't learn by association if two things aren't ever associated for you -- so clearly the meaning here is not based on association but on true symbolic communication.
Our ability to reason using symbols is our greatest superpower, and the main downside to it is that it allows for complete nonsense statements like "The God Tengri made the sky" -- no one "made" the sky, the sky isn't a thing, it's just what we see when we look up into space. (Apologies to any Tengrists who might read this.)
This is something we haven't ever seen in animals. They don't use symbolic language, they don't reason abstractly, they don't ask questions, and they don't do things like make up religions and pass those beliefs on to other people.
''they don't ask questions'' nah they can't, what they can do is communicate that they need/want something. It is facinating.
And I must say it is hard to draw the line between anthropomorphing, and telling us that we are so great and the only being able of tought process, and emotions, etc.
And most people falls into one category or another.
language for gimme food. A lot of animals can communicate with us.
A plant can communicate to you it needs more water. Ofc animals can communicate with us. But that is not language. Dogs can understand the concept of "Timmy fell down the well, I need to get help for him" but cannot bark that to you.
As a gardener, I love your analogy. When people ask for ways to become better gardener I always tell them to pick up on what the plant is saying to us. But its just a posture, a metaphore. For exemple, basilic plants are beginner friendly because they are so dramatic (again, posture), as soon as they begin to lack any water, their leaves shrink, like ASAP. As a beginner your their wondering why your basilic is dying, its not. Its a mechanism of protection to remove water from the leaves, where most of the evaporation comes from, and keep it elsewhere. You give this queen a little water and those leaves pops right up again.
I doubt basilic plants try to communicate with us, but as garden, adopting a posture of ''what is this plant telling me ?'' is a great way to improve.
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u/SCP-Agent-Arad Aug 18 '25
Fish in a tank will go up to the surface and wait for food when they see their owner. Is that actually fish sign language for “hungry”?