Language and interaction between man and animal

If language is an expert way of producing meaningful sounds out of the vocal cord, the human species has perfected the art at its most efficient. Other species---birds and animals---lag behind but it would be foolish to subscribe to the idea that they have no languages as some would like to call rather lovingly their domestic and pet animals dumb. Many birds are famous for producing sounds sweet enough to qualify to be songs. To human ears those melodies pour sweetness but without carrying different meanings. Listening attentively, however, the variations of sounds of some familiar birds at different times are quite discernible. At times, it seems, they twitter in their own mind, forgetting the world around them; at other times theirs are just calls ---short and intent---may be seeking some of their kinds' company.

Then there are birds which can pick up words or short sentences humans use. But the peoples around the world have different languages and yet some songbirds, parrots, cockatoo and myna ---the last one belonging to the starling family --- can mimic human speech. While some of these birds can pick up a few words, some budgerigars can have a command of 2,000 words. No wonder, there is debate among scientists over those birds' cognitive understanding of language. After all, it is not easy to have a stock of 2,000 words. Even an ordinary person hardly uses as many words in everyday communication. Cockatoos in particular are lively, affectionate and sociable. The talking birds may indeed have cognitive skill or otherwise they would have spoken what is irrelevant or inappropriate during their interaction with human beings.

On this count, the mammals should have precedence over the birds of small size. But even the primates such as monkeys, chimpanzees and gorillas are not gifted with a developed form of speech. Their fore legs they can use as hands and have even more physical manoeuvrability than perhaps human beings but the attributes of language are as poor as that of the domestic animals. However, dogs, cats and even the cattle can produce contextual sounds for humans to respond. Cats, experts tell us, can produce more than 100 sounds. Of them, however, 10 are so distinct that even the ordinary mortals can recognise those.

First, their call is meow but it varies. The normal meow is meant for communication with human beings never with other cats. Kittens sends out high-pitched meows which are in fact distress calls. Low and rhythmic sound kittens produce when they are breast-fed. Grown-up cats make the same sound when they are happy and make contact with a human or another cat. A mother and kitten exchange trill which is between meow and purr. Then there are hormone calls, hiss and spit, howl and yowl, snarl and growl, scream or screech of pain and chatter.

In the same way, dogs also have their different sounds with different meanings. Barking, whimpers, whine, howl, growl, granting, panting and sigh are the varieties of their expression of mood. Apart from dogs and cats, cows also use a range of sounds for communication with each other. These are mooing, lowing bellowing. They even make a low grumbling noise when they are hungry. In case their masters delay in bringing them home or delivering foods, they also bellow and the moment they see their keeper coming they start showing their gratitude by swaying their heads from side to side.

Considering all this, it becomes clear that evolution of language is a unique thing. The cave-inhabiting ancestors of today's human beings hardly had any language other than sounds similar to those animals produce. They used gestures of heads and hands along with meaningful shouts in the face of danger or at the time of hunting. As time progressed, they also mastered the art of speaking words that conveyed common message. While human races have developed their languages, birds and animals could not do so.

Yet not all languages have flourished in the same order. Some have become extinct already and others are also following suit. Of the 7,106 living languages, how many are known globally? But that such a large number of languages have their practitioners is a testimony to the diversity of the mankind depending on their locality, environment, social cohesiveness and perhaps the urge to remain distinct in their own ways.

In fact, languages have been the vehicle of human thought process, understanding of mathematics, philosophy, science and other areas of studies. A dominant language loses its pre-eminence to another because it can no longer match the demand of the time. Today's unprecedented scientific and technological advancement has left many languages wayside. Their survival, however, depends on intellectual and literary endeavour of the highest order aimed at scaling the summit.