Can animals grammar? – introduction to my animated series

Are animal signals word-like or even sentence-like? Are their sounds and signs somehow meaningful and structured? Let's spend some videos together exploring the possible linguistics of animal communication. In part 1 I'll introduce this series and the many grammatical animals we'll meet along the way.

~ Shortly and sweetly ~

I've been intrigued by animal language since my two older videos on "design features" and the bee waggle dance. After reading about how Campbell's monkeys suffix -oo to their calls, I read over 100 sources to figure out if animal signals and calls contain anything like human grammar. The answer was complicated and too long for my normal animations, but the story behind the research was fascinating.

(~SPOILERS for the series in the list below!)
I decided to retell a series with several more parts. Here's the basic storytelling structure, and what to expect from the rest of my latest big animated project:
1. (this introduction)
2. humans tried to teach nonhumans our grammars
3. humans expected more from nonhumans
4. humans tried to learn "wild" nonhuman grammars
5. nonhuman word-like signals
6. nonhuman sequences and sentence-like signals
7. human language as animal communication
8. birds, cetaceans and compositional syntax

Once finished I want to stitch everything together in one long animation.

~ Resources ~

Art, animation and music by me. I wrote a sources document to explain and back up claims and to credit all images, fonts and sounds:

Within that document I share links to groups focused on animals, their habitats and the people who care for them. There's a narrative tie-in that will work well by the end of the series, but for now I'll just mention and link:

My "Grammanimals" spreadsheet:

[NativLang]

Been a while since last time we gathered together here. 100 papers, 28000 words in notes, 1 spreadsheet and lots of artwork later, I'm excited to share the rest of this series with you!

[graywulf]

"Grammanimals" sounds like a young children's educational show on PBS. Waiting for the pilot episode.

[BeneathTheBrightSky]

It's amazing that you wrote basically an entire dissertation's worth of material to make basically a movie/tv show on something no one talks about. Insane dedication.

[rasmusn.e.m]

Animal communication was literally *the reason* I began studying linguistics, so let's just say this is very exciting for me!

[toyfreaks]

When I got my first dog, I was amazed at how much we understood each other. If he stretched and meowed like a cat, I knew that meant he was bored and wanted to play. When he wanted to go out, he would stand at the back door make a short, polite bark. If I ignored him long enough, he would shout what I knew meant "Hey, I gotta take a leak here!" Once, he tapped at the door twice and gave a short whine. I saw his buddy, our cat, outside. I opened the door, the cat came in and the dog followed him to the other room. I realized this creature with a brain the size of a tangerine had at least 3 modes of communicating with me about the back door. 🐕🐈‍⬛🧘‍♂

[giuliapaschoarelli]

Your dedication and love for art and linguistics are amazing! Though I study language and literature in college, linguistics has always been difficult for me, but you always manage to keep things fun. Thank you for your hard work!

[Alister]

My dog absolutely understood grammar on some basic level.
If you started a sentence with 'Do you want to go...' his ears pricked up, and he'd stare at you with great intensity. He absolutely knew that this was the start of an Important Sentence. The fact he didn't go mental was evidence that he knew that the next part of the sentence would tell him where you were offering to take him. If you finished with 'for a ride in the car, ' he'd be keen but subdued. Finish it with 'to Granny's', [where he'd get lunch] or 'to the quarry [our local park]' and he'd go ballistic. He knew exactly what the sentence starter meant, and what the finisher meant, and that they were different parts of the meaning (the first that he was going to go on a trip, the second specifying where). To me, that's not so different from a human.

[Plexippuspetersi]

Of course, most of these are either sounds and visual cues and patterns. If we explore the chemical sensorium, even animals that extensively vocalize also use olfaction, gustation, and a myriad other ways mediated by chemicals that don't usually fall under the purview of a common understanding of "communication".

[daarioforel]

And let us never forget that human language IS animal communication!

[barrymoore]

The immediate answer is yes, for the simple reason that human beings are also animals, hence at least one animal species is known to possess language and all its features. But the prospect that other species might also exhibit some degree of language is indeed intriguing.

[rw]

Sounds like it's going to be a very fun series!

I did an evolution of language class for undergrad and we did a lot of discussing of this kind of thing and it is always fascinating, so I'm excited to see what you have in store!

[meg.da.kachidog-p]

My cat Gertrude is sometimes vocal. And when she greets me after a long day of work, her meows are clipped into the syllables of my name. It's cute and also fascinating because perhaps with her age (10 years) Gertrude has picked up on human speech by listening to my parents.

[Zoutsteen]

I was ready to sit down for 56 minutes.

[LHSNottingham]

Can't say enough about how amazing your videos and animation style are, and the charming, fun commentary complements them perfectly. Thank you so much!

[aliased_aryl]

This sounds like such a labor of love, and I’m so excited to see what you have in store!

[stuchly]

Super excited for the following episodes! ❤

[anon_y_mousse]

I hope this series will cover mice communication. I'm always curious what they're trying to communicate to me when they're caught in a trap. Those cute little furry faces with their squeaks. I'm assuming it's as simple as "let me go", but who knows for sure.

[Tyler_Skye]

Yes!! Please more!
Personally, I’d say they can use grammar in their own way. I’d love to watch more about this type of thing!

[aidanb.c.]

I'm looking forward to your assessment on ape language studies. As a biological anthropologist, I was always fascinated by them. But I found the more I researched the topic, the more I felt they did a disservice to our fellow apes. The focus always seemed to be "How human are they?" and "What can and can't they do in terms of understanding and employing human grammatical symbols?" rather than "What forms of language (if at all) do apes utilize in the wild?" and "What use do apes have for language and how does that vary by species, population, and environment?" Seems like we spent so much time debating how human-like Kanzi, Koko, Nim, Sherman, Austin, and others were, we forgot to see what makes bonobos, gorillas, and chimpanzees special in their own right.

And also, why were orangutans and gibbons so often left out of the discussion? (I'm being rhetorical. I know the answer to that.)

[MindstabThrull]

I can't wait to see how this turns out! Language of any type is fascinating and when I was a child I simply decided that mathematics was another language, which made it easier for me to have an interest in it since I already enjoyed languages. I'm curious to see what the animal kingdom has in store for us!