Characteristics of Communication

Communication is the ability to use smell, body language, vocalizations, or symbols to relay messages to others of the same or different species.

Characteristics of Language

Language is the ability to use vocalizations or symbols according to a set of rules, or grammar, that entails word order, or syntax. Mammals like dolphins and chimps may have a primitive ability to use language with training.

Evidences of language capacity for different species

prairie dogs

The chatter of prairie dogs seems to have as its main function to alert the colony to danger. Although they may be able to communicate 50 discrete meanings, we do not know if they use syntax.

dolphins

Although dolphins can understand adn follow hand signals that have grammar and word order, they cannot use these signals to communicate.

chimps

Thrained chimps can both understand and use ASL and lexigrams syntactically in short sentences and even coin new expressions when they don't know a word.