I agree with Gene that:

"The symbolic communciative capacities of non-human animals are
substantial but are
qualitatively distinct from those of humans"

This begs the question, however, do humans really talk about anything
different than animals? If you conduct a cross cultural analysis of human
behavior and language, I think you will find that we communicate pretty
much the same things as animals. Obviously, the circumstances of our
individual plights are more complicated than other social vertebrates, but
most humans (like animals) are basically concerned with two things:

1) enhancing their status
2) aquiring resources

These two basic objectives can be communicated by animals with
fundimentally simple vocal repertoires. Try this simple experiment. Use
only a single word for the next week. You will be amazed at how much
information you can pack into a single sound by changing its inflection,
frequency, duration, etc. I have a sound that I use in many social
situations, I learned it from a red-necked grebe.

I propose at the next WOS meeting, attendants only be allowed to
communicate using individual signature calls.


Fred