How complex is animal communication?

This position holds that animal signalling carries far more structure than it is usually credited with: proponents point to signals that refer to particular things, that combine into larger units, and that are learned and varied rather than fixed by inheritance.

This position holds that animal signalling, however rich it appears, stays simple in kind: proponents argue it conveys states and triggers responses rather than referring or combining, and that richer readings owe more to interpretation than to the signals.