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Studying Animal Languages Without Translation: An Insight from Ants pp 11–30Cite as

Do Animal “Languages” Need Translation? The Main Experimental Approaches to Studying Language Behaviour

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Abstract

The main experimental paradigms in animal intelligent communication are considered. (1) Direct decoding of animal signals enabled researchers to obtain exciting results in studying “semantic vocalisation”, wild “syntax” and the role of “cultural traditions” in animal language behaviour. However, due to methodological limitations, only two types of natural messages have been decoded up to now. (2) The use of intermediary artificial languages have revealed astonishing “linguistic potential” in several social and intelligent species. Nevertheless, the complexity of animals’ natural communications remains unclear. (3) The information-theoretic approach is designed to study quantitative characteristics of natural communicative systems by measuring the time duration that animals spend on transmitting messages of definite information content and complexity.

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  1. Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals of SB RAS, Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russia

    Zhanna Reznikova

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Reznikova, Z. (2017). Do Animal “Languages” Need Translation? The Main Experimental Approaches to Studying Language Behaviour. In: Studying Animal Languages Without Translation: An Insight from Ants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44918-0_2

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