BAHASA HEWAN DAN MANUSIA

Abstract

This study conducts an in-depth comparison between animal communication systems and the unique generative capacity of human language, utilizing Charles Hockett's design features as the primary analytical framework. The main focus of this study is to differentiate the qualitative boundary between instinctive signaling behavior and the mechanisms of language underpinned by complex cognitive processes, such as ostension and inference. A qualitative, interdisciplinary literature review approach was used to gain a comprehensive understanding. The findings indicate that while animal communication can be structured (such as the honeybee waggle dance or primate alarm calls) it generally fails to meet universal linguistic features like duality of patterning, unlimited productivity, and displacement. Human language, conversely, relies on recursive and abstract syntactic principles, allowing for the expression of limitless ideas, complex temporal meanings, and cultural transmission that transcends immediate biological needs. Thus, this research concludes that the human language capacity represents a significant evolutionary leap in cognitive architecture, fundamentally positioning human language on a qualitatively different plane compared to communication in non-human species.