Design features in dealing with animals
Hockett distinguished language from communication. Although almost all animals communicate in one way or another, a communication system is considered a language only if it possesses all of the above characteristics. Some communication systems with animals are impressively complex in the sense that they have a significant number of design features proposed by Hockett. – Hockett distinguished language from communication. Although almost all animals communicate in one way or another, a communication system is considered a language only if it possesses all of the above characteristics. Some communication systems with animals are impressively complex in the sense that they have a significant number of design features proposed by Hockett. in this article, we will describe the Design features in dealing with animals by Hockett.
Design features in dealing with animals
1-Ants
Ants use the chemical-olfactory communication channel. Ants produce chemicals called pheromones which are secreted through the glands of the body and are received by the tips of the antennae. Ants can produce up to twenty different smells of pheromones, each of which is a unique signal that is used to communicate things such as where food is and danger, or even the need to protect or move a colony. When an ant is killed, it releases a pheromone that alerts others to potential danger. Pheromones also help ants distinguish family members from outsiders. The queen ant has special pheromones that she uses to signal her status, manage work, and inform the colonies when they need to raise princesses or drones. Ants will even go to war to protect a colony or food source. This war includes tactics reminiscent of human warfare. The marauding ants will capture and hold the enemy while another ant crushes it. Ants are faithful to their colony to death; however, the queen will kill herself to be the last. This level of “planning” among animal species requires complex communication. Birds
2-Birds
Bird communication exhibits a variety of features, including voice and auditory channels, broadcast / directional reception, fade-out, semantics, and arbitrariness. Bird communication is divided into songs and calls. Songs are used primarily to attract mates, while shouts are used to warn of food and danger and coordinate movement with the herd. Calls are acoustically simple, and songs are longer and more complex. Communication with birds is discrete and non-discrete. Birds use syntax to arrange their songs, where musical notes act like phonemes… The order of the notes is important to the meaning of the song, which indicates the existence of discreteness. Bird communication is also continuous in the sense that it uses duration and frequency. However, the fact that birds have “phonemes” does not necessarily mean that they can combine them indefinitely. Birds have a limited number of songs they can create. The male indigo bunting has only one song, while the brown thrasher can sing over 2000 songs. Birds even have unique dialects, depending on where they come from.
3-Bees
Bee communication is different from other forms of animal communication. Bees communicate using the auditory channel, not the voice channel. Honey bees use dancing to communicate – a round dance, a wagging dance as well as a transitional dance. Depending on the species, a round dance is used to signal that food is 20–30 meters from the hive, a wagging dance is used for food that is 40–90 meters from the hive, and a transition dance is used for distances in between. To perform a wagging dance, the bee moves in a zigzag line and then loops back to the beginning of the line, forming a figure eight. The direction of the line indicates food. The dance speed indicates the distance to the food. Thus, the dance of the bee is also continuous rather than discrete. Their communication is also not arbitrary. They move in a direction and pattern that physically indicates where the food is. The dances of the bees also exhibit displacement, which is generally considered a human characteristic. Most animals scream “food found” only when food is physically present, but bees can talk about food that is more than 100 meters away.
