Language Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Distinctive features of human language=== {{main|Animal language|Great ape language}} A number of features, many of which were described by [[Charles Hockett]] and called [[Hockett's design features|design features]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~swinters/371/designfeatures.html |title=The Problem of Universals in Language |last=Hockett |first=Charles F. |date=1966 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110023354/http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~swinters/371/designfeatures.html |archive-date=10 November 2012 |access-date=11 May 2013 }}</ref> set human language apart from communication used by non-human [[Animal language|animals]]. Communication systems used by other animals such as [[Bee learning and communication|bees]] or [[great ape language|apes]] are closed systems that consist of a finite, usually very limited, number of possible ideas that can be expressed.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Hockett|1960}}; {{harvcoltxt|Deacon|1997}}</ref> In contrast, human language is open-ended and [[Productivity (linguistics)|productive]], meaning that it allows humans to produce a vast range of utterances from a finite set of elements, and to create new words and sentences. This is possible because human language is based on a dual code, in which a finite number of elements which are meaningless in themselves (e.g. sounds, letters or gestures) can be combined to form an infinite number of larger units of meaning (words and sentences).<ref name="Trask5">{{harvcoltxt|Trask|1999|pages=1–5}}</ref> However, one study has demonstrated that an Australian bird, the [[chestnut-crowned babbler]], is capable of using the same acoustic elements in different arrangements to create two functionally distinct vocalizations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Engesser |first1=Sabrina|last2=Crane |first2=Jodie M. S.|last3=Savage |first3=James L.|last4=Russel |first4=Andrew F. |last5=Townsend |first5=Simon W. |date=29 June 2015 |title=Experimental Evidence for Phonemic Contrasts in a Nonhuman Vocal System |journal=PLOS Biology |volume=13|issue=6|pages=e1002171|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002171|pmid=26121619 |pmc=4488142 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Additionally, [[Southern pied babbler|pied babblers]] have demonstrated the ability to generate two functionally distinct vocalisations composed of the same sound type, which can only be distinguished by the number of repeated elements.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Engesser |first1=Sabrina |last2=Ridley |first2=Amanda R. |last3=Townsend |first3=Simon W. |s2cid=21470061 |date=20 July 2017 |title=Element repetition rates encode functionally distinct information in pied babbler 'clucks' and 'purrs' |journal=Animal Cognition |volume=20 |issue=5 |pages=953–960 |doi=10.1007/s10071-017-1114-6 |pmid=28730513 |url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/89798/7/WRAP-element-repetition-rates-encode-functionally-Townsend-2017.pdf |access-date=9 November 2018 |archive-date=28 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428232241/http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/89798/7/WRAP-element-repetition-rates-encode-functionally-Townsend-2017.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Several species of animals have proved to be able to acquire forms of communication through social learning: for instance a [[bonobo]] named [[Kanzi]] learned to express itself using a set of symbolic [[Yerkish#Lexigram concept|lexigram]]s. Similarly, many species of birds and whales learn their songs by imitating other members of their species. However, while some animals may acquire large numbers of words and symbols,{{refn|group=note|The gorilla [[Koko (gorilla)|Koko]] reportedly used as many as 1000 words in [[American Sign Language]], and understands 2000 words of spoken English. There are some doubts about whether her use of signs is based on complex understanding or simple [[Operant conditioning|conditioning]].<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Candland|1993}}</ref>}} none have been able to learn as many different signs as are generally known by an average 4 year old human, nor have any acquired anything resembling the complex grammar of human language.<ref name="Deacon 1997">{{harvcoltxt|Deacon|1997}}</ref> Human languages differ from animal communication systems in that they employ [[grammatical categories|grammatical and semantic categories]], such as noun and verb, present and past, which may be used to express exceedingly complex meanings.<ref name="Deacon 1997"/> It is distinguished by the property of [[Recursion#In language|recursivity]]: for example, a noun phrase can contain another noun phrase (as in "<nowiki>[[the chimpanzee]'s lips]</nowiki>") or a clause can contain another clause (as in "<nowiki>[I see [the dog is running]]</nowiki>").<ref name="Hauser 2002"/> Human language is the only known natural communication system whose adaptability may be referred to as ''modality independent''. This means that it can be used not only for communication through one channel or medium, but through several. For example, spoken language uses the auditive modality, whereas [[sign language]]s and writing use the visual modality, and [[braille]] writing uses the tactile modality.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Trask|2007|pp=165–166}}</ref> Human language is unusual in being able to refer to abstract concepts and to imagined or hypothetical events as well as events that took place in the past or may happen in the future. This ability to refer to events that are not at the same time or place as the speech event is called ''[[Displacement (linguistics)|displacement]]'', and while some animal communication systems can use displacement (such as the communication of [[bee]]s that can communicate the location of sources of nectar that are out of sight), the degree to which it is used in human language is also considered unique.<ref name="Trask5"/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page