Communication in Other Species Flashcards
Ontogenetic
The development of an individual member of a species over their lifetime
Phylogenetic
The development of a species over evolutionary time scales
Ant Communication
Chemical trails, signal alarms, signal caste system, produce death chemical
Similar to human communication:
Symbolic communication – one signal means one thing
Communicates information to the group
Different from human communication:
Not expandable
Lack of contextual variability (reacts to acid on live ant as though it’s dead)
Bee Communication
Dance describing location of food source – butt waggle
Similar to human communication:
Flexible: variable direction/spatial relationship depending on the relative location of the hive the bee is in
Communicating about the past/absent things (in space and time)
Different from human communication:
No vocabulary (lack of mapping between signal and object)
Vervet Monkey Communication
Alarm calls (changes depending on which animal is present)
Similar to human communication:
Symbolic communication
Different from human communication:
Innate, rather than learned
Not expandable - No way to improvise new sounds for new predators
No context – will produce the sounds in isolation
Bird Communication
Birdsong
Similar to human communication:
Learned/culturally transmitted
Diversity – within a chain of passed songs, songs that started out similar become different over time
Symbolic – complex structure, but single message
Chimpanzee Communication
Vocal and gestural (tactile and visual)
Similar to human communication:
Contextual – vocalize differently in different situations
Some vocal audience design – may hoot more when alliance partners are nearby
More likely to use visual gestures than tactile when the other ape is looking
Variation between groups
Different from human communication:
No referential use of sound or gestures
No productivity in combining gestures
The Ritualization Process
Signals arise when non-signal behaviors come to take on a communicative function
- Individual A performs action X
- Individual B consistently reacts by doing Y
- B anticipates A’s performance of X, on the basis of its initial step, by performing Y
- A anticipates B’s anticipation and produces the action X in a ritualized form in order to elicit Y
A Human Example of Ritualization
- Kids reach for parent
- Parent picks them up
- Kid realizes that every time they lift their arms, they get picked up
- Parent says “want up?” and waits for kid to reach for them
Hockett’s Design Features
Other species have communication systems that display some of these properties but no species have one that displays all of them.
Vocal-Auditory Channel
One of Hockett’s design features
Displacement
One of Hockett’s design features
Communicating about something in a different place or time
Productivity
One of Hockett’s design features
Can create new utterances consistent with the grammar of the language, which have never been heard before, and have them be understood
Duality of Patterning
One of Hockett’s design features
Speech is made up of a relatively small number of meaningless sounds that can be combined to form a vast number of meaningful words
Allows human speech to be infinitely productive
Sounds are distinct/easy to understand
Arbitrariness
One of Hockett’s design features
There is no relationship between the sound and the form it refers to
Semanticity
One of Hockett’s design features
Meaningfulness – has intentional content
The tie between meaningful elements and their meaning is arbitrary (vs. bee dance – speed indicates distance)
Interchangeability
One of Hockett’s design features
Anything that has been received can also be produced
Traditional Transmission
One of Hockett’s design features
Learned, passed down by cultural transmission
Rapid Fading
One of Hockett’s design features
Once a message is produced, it is only briefly there
Can control who receives a message, and also facilitates lying
Total Feedback
One of Hockett’s design features
Specialization
One of Hockett’s design features
The physical process of communication and the sound waves serve no function except as communication signals
Discreteness
One of Hockett’s design features
The basic units of speech (such as sounds) can be categorized as belonging to distinct categories
There is no gradual, continuous shading from one sound to another in the linguistics system, although there may be a continuum in the real physical world.
Broadcast Transmission and Directional Reception
One of Hockett’s design features
Can be heard by anyone within hearing range
Can figure out where the sound is coming from
Audience Design
The ability to adapt the signal to the needs or a particular addressee or group of addressees
Cultural vs. biological transmission of communication systems
The Imitation Video (Kids & Chimps) and how it relates to language development
The kids continue to follow all of the steps even when it’s clear that they are not doing anything
The chimps only do the steps that actually get the treats
This overimitation relates to language development
Learning requires copying, often prior to full understanding
Child doesn’t always know why the phrase produces the certain response, but knows they want that result
same action = same goal achieved
