Adam's Tongue: How Humans Made Language, How Language Made Humans

Comments:

There has been a LOT of research on this. A popsci book I've read on the topic is Adam's Tongue. It details the features that separate what's called Animal Communication Systems from human language.

https://www.amazon.com/Adams-Tongue-Humans-Made-Language-ebo...

Obviously pets are quite capable of making their wishes known to us, especially if we facilitate it. It's unclear whether they're actually achieving language. I'm tempted to think they are, especially when I see dogs using push buttons to talk to us on Instagram. But I can't be totally sure.

And even if they were, it would be language we taught them. Not independently developed in the wild.