【１】日本のふつうの書きことばでは、漢字の地位が絶対的に高く、それに比べてカタカナは、代用的な役割しか引き受けていない。前者は高度に抽象的な概念の表記に不可欠とされるのに対し、後者はガチャガチャ、ドタバ夕など、できごとそのままをむき出しにした、いわば幼稚園文字である。
　【２】ところが、カタカナが時に、この地位を逆転して、漢字のはるかに及ばない威信を帯びることがある。欧米の学芸や学芸人を示すのに用いられるばあいそうであって、たとえば「フィロゾフィー」が「哲学」より一段高い威信をあらわすとき、かの幼稚園文字が、一転して欧米先進文化の光りかがやく代弁者の地位に躍り出るのである。
　【３】しかしそうなるのは、もとが漢字ではない文字のあらわす音をカタカナが示そうとするばあいに限るのであって、もとにあるのが漢字であるとなれば、事態は一変してしまう。【４】もしその漢字の音をカタカナで写し、それで押し通そうとするならば、思いもかけないほどの強い抵抗に出会うであろう。たとえばその国で一般にそう呼ばれているように「トン・シァオピン」と書くとどこか不安なのに、漢字で書いて、トー・ショーヘーと読めば、普通の日本人は安心するだろう。【５】この日本式呼び名を聞いて、それが誰だかわかる中国人はほとんど居ないにもかかわらずである。この安心感は、音はなぞりでしかないのに、漢字はオリジナルで不変だという安心感から来ている。しかしそのオリジナル性は、音のオリジナル性を全く犠牲にした上に成りたった、無努力、横着のオリジナル性である。
　【６】こういう一面的なオリジナル性の上にできた二つの言語間の交流は、たいていは一方の側の、ときには双方の側からの独善にもとづく、まがいものであるのが普通だ。【７】なぜなら、人は話をすることによって交流するのが基本だからである。そうでない、文字だけの交流は、その文字エリートや、かれらの作った制度によって管理されたものだからである。
　【８】いま私がかりに韓国に行って、そこの男ないしは女と仲良くなったとする。その仲良くなり方が学問的、職業的なものか、より人間的なものであるかは問わない。とにかくその人が自分を「カン」だと名のれば、私はその人の名を「カン」さんとして心の中に刻み∵つけ、終生変えることはないだろう。【９】しかしその人の名を学生名簿とか新聞記事で「姜」という文字によって知れば、その日本式読み方に従って「キョウ」と発音することになるだろう。それは紙の上のつき合いにとどまるからそれですむのであるが、もし彼、もしくは彼女を私が愛していれば、絶対に「カン」でなければならない。
　【０】文化の交流が一方的に統制されたものから相互的で直接的なものへと移ると、ことばは紙から抜け出て音になる。韓国の人気歌手チョー・ヨンピルを愛するファンが、どうして彼をその紙のことばの趙容弼に従って、チョー・ヨーヒツなどと呼びかえる気になれるだろうか。ヨーヒツは決してヨンピルではないのである。福岡に居る韓国人牧師さんが自分の呼び名のことで、もう十年来こういう訴えを続けているのに、日本の裁判所はわかろうとしない。つまり、ことばには愛があるということを理解しないのである。
　
　田中克彦「国家語をこえて」から（一部直す）

Some people say that humans are the only animals that have language. Is this true? It is a very difficult question to answer. Different kinds of animals must be studied. Many People think some animals certainly have a communicational, system.
Bees do two kinds of dances to tell other bees about their discovery of food. First, there is a round dance. In this dance, the bee moves in a circle inside the hive. The round dance is used when food is nearby. The food must not be more than ten meters away. If a bee comes back and does a round dance, other bee know they must go out and look nearby for food. The bees also smell the bee that has found the food. The smell tells them what kind of flower to look for. After watching the round dance and smelling the bee that has found the food, the other bees can find the food source.
A second kind of dance done by the bees is a tail-wagging dance. In this dance, the bee wags the end of its body as it moves in a straight line. The tail-wagging dance is used when the food is far away. The food must be more than ten meters away. The bees know from the speed of the tail-wagging dance just how far away the food source is. The line the bee dances on shows the direction that the bees must fly in to find the food. In the tail-wagging dance, the bees also smell the bee that has found the food. The smell tells them what kind of flower to look for. After watching the tail-wagging dance and smelling the bee that has found the food, the other bees know three things. They know how far to fly, what direction to fly in, what kind of flower to look for.
The bees' communications system is very interesting. Each bee can tell all the other bees where to look for food. The bees can also tell one another if the food is good, and how much of it there is. One scientist did an experiment with bees. He put a food source very high above the bee hive, and put a bee into the food. The bee returned to the hive and did the round dance, but no other bees could find the food. This suggests that bees do not really have a language. One bee could not tell the other bees the height of the food. One bee could not communicate this new information to the others.
Scientists have studied dolphins, like bees, to see if they have a language. Although scientists have not studied the dolphin as carefully as they have studied the bee, they have made interesting discoveries. They have done a few experiments with dolphins. They have studied the dolphin because its general behavior is much like that of humans. For communication, however, the dolphin's system is much more limited than a person's. The dolphin has three kinds of calls or noises to tell other dolphins about food, danger, or other things.
Bees and dolphins may communicate, but we are not sure if they have language. It is much more difficult to decide if monkeys have language. Monkeys are very similar to humans. So some scientists in the late l940's tried to teach a monkey named Viki to talk. After a year, Viki could only say a few words. Part of the problem with this experiment is that monkeys do not have the same kind of mouth as humans. They are not really able to make human speech sounds. As a result, the experiment with Viki did not work well.
In the l960's, other scientists tried to teach a monkey named Washoe to use a sign language. In a sign language, words are not spoken -- signs are made with the hands. Many people who cannot speak or hear use this sign language. It looked like a better kind of language to teach to a monkey. After two years, Washoe could make thirty-four signs with her hands. For examples, she could put three fingers next to her ear as a sign for her name, Washoe. She could also use the sign for ”come here,” by putting her arm out and bending it back to herself. She could also do two other things. First, she combined signs to make sentences. Second, she used one sign for all things of one kind, and generalized her use of the sign. The ability to combine and to generalize is important in language use.
If we can say that language is any system for exchanging information, then bees, dolphins, and monkeys all have a language. But if we can say that language is a system for exchanging information by making new combinations of symbols, then bees and dolphins do not have a language, but monkeys may have one. Monkeys are clearly able to combine symbols in a human language scientists have taught. This is not their usual language, however. Many more studies must be done before we can be sure if animals have language.