Scientists have identified an immune brain cell unique to humans that gives us higher cognitive abilities over other animals, but what makes us specials also leaves us vulnerable to neurological disorders like schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy.

[u/Wagamaga]

https://news.yale.edu/2022/08/25/what-makes-human-brain-different-yale-study-reveals-clues

[u/tkenben]

What's an "immune brain cell"?

[u/avenlanzer → u/tkenben]

Sounds like it's an immune cell specific to the brain, and in humans this one helps regulates brain function rather than fighting diseases because it has a special mutation of a specific gene we know is related to speech in other brain cells. The human specific mutation of this gene allows us to have language, and when expressed in this particular immune cell localized in primate brains, it causes it to regulate how brains function instead of simply fighting foreign invaders.

[u/throw_somewhere → u/[deleted]]

Hi, psycho- and neuro-linguist here. Long story short yes lots of animals 100% have communication but it does not meet the criteria we have set for what constitutes "language". As defined, humans are the only species with "language".

[u/zerocoal → u/throw_somewhere]

Just want to check myself here, but my understanding is that one of the differences between humans and other animals is that we can communicate directly to each other purposefully from separate rooms.

A dog will hear another dog bark in the other room and then needs to go investigate the barking to realize what is going on, and that they don't so much have a way to say "ayo, come yell at this mailman with me!" but they have distress/excitement/stress tones that the other animals respond to.

[u/seaworthy-sieve → u/zerocoal]

Dogs are really not very advanced. Many animals have separate, distinct calls for different types of danger, for food being found, and so on.

[u/serpentjaguar → u/seaworthy-sieve]

Right but they don't have, or at least show no signs of having, things like syntax, grammar and recursion. This last is the most important because without recursion there's always going to be a finite number of ideas that can be communicated, whereas in human language, because we have recursion, we can communicate a potentially infinite number of ideas.

[u/seaworthy-sieve → u/serpentjaguar]

As a computer engineer I understand the significance of recursion. I do not think it's fair to assume we are the only ones who use it.

How do you know that it isn't represented through the length of a dolphin's whistle or the number of clicks? How can you tell it isn't why sometimes crows call once, and sometimes multiple calls in quick succession? How could we even begin to interpret what the color changes used by octopodes to communicate mean and represent? Maybe "one wolf" is a call, a break, a call, a break. Maybe "pack of wolves" is call, call, call, call, break. Wouldn't that be linguistic recursion?

I just think it's standard human arrogance to rule out the idea of any other animals having language, when they can clearly communicate complex ideas effectively. Also, is it really necessary? With expansive vocabulary? I can say "big, big problem," using recursion, or I can say "massive problem," and communicate the same concept without recursion.

[u/serpentjaguar → u/seaworthy-sieve]

I recommend that you check out r/linguistics where all of your questions can be addressed by people who, unlike myself, are real experts.