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While I can’t pretend to have gotten inside the mind of Stanley Coren, I am willing to speculate that he wrote this book as a way of taking a very specific scientific controversy out of the realm of academia and bringing it to the people. The controversy: do dogs have a true language or do they not?
Having recently rewatched Miracle on 34th Street, I recall Kris Kringle’s attorney’s comment on the controversy over belief in Santa Clause. “Some firmly believe in him, others just as strongly deny his existence.” In keeping with the spirit of the season when we’re a little more likely than usual to believe that animals speak, it’s a great time to buy this book as a present for a serious dog lover on your list.
It seems obvious to me that Coren takes the controversy seriously; taking it to the people is not a cop out. Rather his singular achievement is to bring a body of evidence, if you will, to pet owners who normally would not be part of this academic jury. While reading How To Speak Dog, again and again I'd find myself exclaiming “Wow, that's Oliver’s call to be let in, or so that's what Emmie is saying to Hannah.”
After completing my first read, I kept the book on the end table having dog eared (sorry, couldn’t resist) the section entitled “Doggish Phrase Book”. This Doggish-English dictionary is a must-have for your next visit to the park where Doggish is the language of the land. Stanley, “May I call you Stanley?”, has organized the phrasebook by sounds, and by ear, eye, facial, tail, and other body signals. Then for each phrase he provides the human meaning, corresponding emotions and conditions of the dog when the phrase is uttered. Basically, “This is what the dog is saying when you see and hear this behavior.”
Often, for weeks after I finished the book, whenever I'd hear a bark, a whine, a howl, or see a crooked tail I’d pop open the phrase book and compare Coren's interpretation to my own.
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I've often found myself recommending this book to friends, psychologists and other dog lovers. As a sociologist myself I've always been interested in cross cultural communication. Over time, little by little I came to realize I'd become even more interested in cross-species communication between people and dogs. Progress has been slow. I guess it’s hard to study cultural differences when you don't understand the language. But I digress.
So, back to the basic question. “Oh, yes”, Stanley concludes, dogs have a language. There are four generally accepted key requirements for language and dogs show all four, one to a lesser extent than the other three:
- Meaningfulness – canine sounds and signals are not random, but convey a specific meaning
- Displacement -- the ability to target things not currently in sight “Go get the ball in the kitchen.”
- Display rules of combination -- some combinations are not meaningful when used together. Dogs don’t lay down to get a tummy rub and seriously growl at the same time
- Productivity – the ability to put words together in novel ways.
Stanley acknowledges that productivity is weak (though it does exist) in Doggish. But the same is true in human toddlers and few would argue that toddlers have no language, just that they understand far more than they can express in words.
So, while at this time of year, I’m especially willing to believe in Santa, I find that all year long I’m willing to believe dogs have a language. Thanks, Stanley. I won’t be surprised if my peers in the jury decide to vote the same, “Yes, Virginia, dogs do have language.
http://www.stanleycoren.com
Bob and Hannah, November 2005.
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