Contents › Section 7: Theory, terminology and disciplinary question › answer 29 of 39
Do animals have foreign languages?
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This phenomenon has been studied a lot over the years. People do not refer to it as animal foreign languages but sometimes the word dialect is used. You will find plenty of descriptions in books on animal communication. Just be careful in your search because a lot of books with this title are about 'speaking' to animals. Most intros to linguistics also have a section on animal communication these days. Sometimes people also talk about zoosemiotics.
Localized dialects have been described for all kinds of species with some system of social communication from bees to apes. For example, there is plenty of literature on 'bird song' dialects.
The boundary of what is thought to be unique to human language as opposed to animal communication patterns is constantly shifting so you have to be careful both not to settle for old preconceptions but also not to fall for the latest flights of fancy.
© Dominik Lukeš. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Originally published on Linguistics Stack Exchange, attributed there to Dominik Lukes (profile).