If these properties of human language make it such a unique communication system, quite different
from the communication systems of other creatures, then it would seem extremely unlikely that
other creatures would be able to understand it. Some humans, however, do not behave as if this is
the case. There is, after all, a lot of spoken language directed by humans to animals, apparently
under the impression that the animal follows what is being said. Riders can say Whoa to horses and
they stop (or so it seems), we can say Heel to dogs and they will follow at heel (well, sometimes),
and a variety of circus animals go Up, Down and Roll over in response to spoken command. The
standard explanation is that the animal produces a particular behavior in response to a particular
sound-stimulus or noise, but does not actually “understand” what the words in the noise mean. a
new baby and a puppy may arrive at the same time. Baby and puppy grow up in the same
environment, hearing mostly the same things, but about two years later, the baby is making lots of
human speech sounds and the puppy is not. But perhaps a puppy is a poor example. Wouldn’t it be
better to work with a closer relative such as a chimpanzee?