TED Talk's Could We Speak The Language Of Dolphins

Language has a pivotal role when it comes to communication amongst humans. There are over seven thousand languages, however, one-third of them contain a SVO (subject verb object), one-third of them contain VOS (verb object subject), and one-third of them contain a SOV (subject object verb) word order. Regardless of the word order, language contains distinct characteristics that cause them to be referred to as language. These characters are what define language, which is why not all forms of communication is known as language, whereas all languages are a form of communication. In the TED talk video “Could We Speak the Language of Dolphins”, the speaker makes some interesting points regarding the communication dolphins use. For instance, she …show more content…
Interchangeability is the idea of being able to communicate back and forth, like Marco, polo. Cultural transmission is when a language is learned by being surrounded by other fluent users of the language. Arbitrariness is when a signal has no logic or relationship to the meaning, or a word that means something else in another language. Discreteness is when a sound stands alone, such as a phony, which creates a letter, a letter which creates words, and words create sentences, so in a sense there is a systematic approach. The dolphins displayed that interchangeability is possible, especially with the unique whistles they have as names. They also exhibited cultural transmission, where the younger dolphins learned how to whistle from their parents and peers. However, two major components of human language are displacement, and productivity. Displacement is the idea of being able to refer to a place other than the current location, and the idea of being able to refer to a time other than the present time, such as the past and future. Productivity is the idea of being able to combine different elements of the language in an infinite number of …show more content…
The dolphins were not able prove that they can refer to a different location or a different time such as the past or future. The idea of being able to discuss a different location and being able to refer to a different time zone is what separates human language from communication. In chapter six of the reading “Language Matters”, the author discusses the wagging dance that bees do when gathering food. The author discusses the steps a bee takes to retrieve the food. For example, the bees must find the food then relay the message onto the bees in the hive with the waggle dance. The speed of the wagging dance informs the other bees of the distance required to travel to obtain the food, the direction of the food is based on the positioning of the bee’s head (Page 79). The wagging dance is a form of communication for the bees, but it is not the same as language due to the lack of language