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The Complexity of Bottlenose Dolphin Language Studies show that humans are more sophisticated than any other species in their use of language because humans use thoughtful language, whereas, most other species use language out of impulse. However, other non-human species are more sophisticated in how they communicate with one another. This essay will examine the communication strategies of bottlenose dolphins. Bottlenose dolphins have a highly extensive and developed communication network. The key to understanding the extent to this language is to determine whether they have a repertoire of grammatical rules that generate organized sequences. Most importantly, it is necessary to understand the incredible aptitude of dolphin communicative skills, and the impressive intelligence the animal possesses which allows for a great deal of intraspecies and interspecies communication (Schusterman, Thomas, & Wood, 1986). The acoustical reception and processing abilities of the bottlenose dolphins have generally been shown to be among the most sophisticated of any animal including humans (Popper, 1980 as cited by Schusterman et al. 1986). In order to understand the complexity of these highly mechanized acoustic systems, it is necessary to learn the process for which the dolphin hears. In most water-adapted cetaceans, tissue conduction is the primary route of sound conduction to the middle ear. The isolation of the bulla shows an adaptation for tissue-conducted sound. The lower jaw contains fat that is closely associated with the impedance of seawater. The lower jawbone of most dolphins becomes broadened and quite thin towards the rear, and the fat forms an oval shape that closely corresponds to the area of minimum thickness of the jaw. This fat body leads directly to the bulla, producing a sound path to the ear structures located deep within the head. Paired and single air sacs are scattered throughout the skull, which serve to channel these tissue-conducted sounds (Popov & Supin, 1991). Due to detailed audiograms, dolphins have been shown to have the ability to detect high-frequency sounds. In an experiment by Johnson (1966) as cited in Schusterman et al. (1986), sounds ranging in frequency from seventy-five hertz to one hundred and fifty hertz were presented to a bottle-nosed dolphin. The animal was trained to swim in a stationary area within a stall and to watch for a light to come on. Following the light presentation a sound was sometimes presented. If the dolphin heard the sound, its task was to leave the area and push a lever. With training, the dolphin was able to accomplish its task. The results indicated that the dolphin auditory system is at least as good or better than the human system. This is in spite of the fact that sound travels five times as fast under water as it does in air (Popov & Supin, 1991) The bottlenose dolphin in captivity produces two categories of sound used for communication: (a) whistles and (b) clicks of varying rates (Evans, 1967, as cited in Schusterman et al. 1986). The clicks are used for both communication and echolocation, and the whistles are found to be used primarily for communication (Herman & Tavolga, 1980, as cited in Schusterman et al. 1986). It has been reported that individually specific whistles often make up over ninety percent of the whistle repertoire of captive bottlenose dolphins (Popov & Supin, 1991). The observed variability in the whistles, combined with the difficulty of identifying individual vocalizing dolphins in a group, has led to speculation that the whistles might be a complex, shared system, in which specific meanings could be assigned to specific whistles. Language, as we know it, could not exist without the capacity for intentional communication, as all linguistic communications are, by definition, intentional. Dolphins have been observed to have some of these intentional communication characteristics, as their behaviours have shown in captivity. For example, dolphins have been observed to squirt or splash water at strangers who come near their tank. After squirting the water the dolphin will raise itself out of the water to curiously observe what effect their behaviour had on the stranger. Although this behaviour is not communicative, nonetheless, it seems to suggest that the dolphin is aware of the effect of its behaviour on others, showing that it has the cognitive ability for intentional communication (Erickson, 1993). Communication between humans and dolphins occurs mostly through a gestural language that borrows some words from American Sign Language. The trainers make the gestures with big arm movements, asking the animal to follow commands such as “person-left-Frisbee-fetch”, which means bring the Frisbee on the left to the person in the pool. In one study, two bottlenose dolphins were tested in proficiency in interpreting gestural language signs and compared against humans who viewed the same videos of veridical and degraded gestures. The dolphins were found to recognize gestures as accurately as fluent humans, and the results suggested that the dolphins had constructed an interconnected network of semantic and gestural representations in their memory (Herman, Morrel-Samuels, & Pack, 1990). Such requests probe the dolphins understanding of word order and test the animals grammatical competence. It has also been determined that dolphins can form a generalized concept about an object: they respond correctly to commands involving a hoop, no matter whether the hoop is round, octagonal, or square. The animals seem to have a conceptual grasp of the words they learn, showing an understanding of the core attributes of human language, those being semantics and syntax (Erickson, 1993). It is evident that humans have developed a more complex language system than the bottlenose dolphin. That could be due to the fact that in the human world we require a complex and sophisticated language system in order to effectively communicate in our everyday life. Bottlenose dolphins have their own sophisticated language system that allows for interspecies and intraspecies communication. It has been shown that bottlenose dolphins can learn to communicate with humans while using human language, which is a great feat for any animal. In addition, bottlenose dolphins can hear and emit sounds at frequencies that are inaudible to humans. It is incorrect for humans to assume that they are superior to bottlenose dolphins on the basis of effective communication because, same as humans, bottlenose dolphins have an equally sophisticated communication network. Reference List Erickson, D. (1993, March). Can animals think' Time, 146, 182-189. Herman, L. M., Morrel-Samuels, P., & Pack, A. (1990). Bottlenosed dolphin and human recognition of veridical and degraded video displays of an artificial gestural language. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 119, 215-230. Popov, V. V., & Supin, A. Y. (1991). Interaural intensity and latency difference in the dolphin’s auditory system. Neuroscience Letters, 133, 295-297. Schusterman, R. J., Thomas, J. A., & Wood, F. G. (1986). Dolphin cognition and behavior: A comparitive approach. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Shane, S. H. (1991). Smarts. Seafrontiers, 37, 40-43. Supin, A. Y., Popov, V. V., & Klishin, V. O. (1993). ABR frequency tuning curves in dolphins. 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