Expanding the Oxford Languages Definition of Language: Incorporating Animal and Machine Communication
Overview
This essay critically examines the Oxford Languages definition of language, arguing that it is too narrow in its focus on human communication. The paper proposes expanding the definition to include communication between humans and animals, as well as human-machine communication through technology, contending that language exists across multiple species and forms of interaction.
What this essay covers
- Introduction: Overview of how communication occurs across species and presentation of the Oxford Languages definition
- The Diverse Elements and Forms of Language: Analysis of animal-human communication, examples of animal symbolic behavior, and discussion of machine communication through technology
- Arguments for expanding the definition to include non-human forms of communication
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Linguistic: The Oxford Languages Definition of Language
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Linguistic: The Oxford Languages Definition of Language
Introduction
We communicate in different ways, through written and verbal words or using signs, voicings, and gestures. Animals and machines also communicate in their daily routines. Language is important because it enables communication between human beings, machines, and animals. However, machines communicate with the help of human beings. According to the Oxford Languages definition of language is "the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of using words in a structured and conventional way." The authors can add certain aspects to the definition to make it unique or specific in a particular context. While the definition includes essential elements, humans use other symbolic and figurative representations to pass messages. Moreover, modern society has advanced in many ways, and animals (and other species) are incorporated into the human environment. The definition can be improved to include the different beings and elements humans use and interact with while communicating.
The Diverse Elements and Forms of Language
First, the definition should be expanded to include language existing between animals, as well as animals and humans (Joseph, 2017). The definition only focuses on language as a form of human communication. This is not true when we consider the diversity within the human surroundings. In this regard, language becomes a tool for communication between humans and other species, including animals and birds.