I've never read any linguists who talk about other species communication.
Oh.
You and Mr. Tea sound like Saussure-lite, and I wholly disagree with the assumption that language precedes thought. "Thought" is the illusion of self or consciousness produced by electrical impulses in a brain or nervous system of an animal.
Do you think babies don't "think" because they can't yet speak/don't yet have access to language? I think they can and do.
are you reading the things I am writing? I have not made any of these claims. ``you and Mr Tea'' indeed.
btw I like `Saussure-lite'. so casually dismissive.
In birds, it is widely studied and well established that their own little "warble-yelp-warble" strings of sounds DO have meanings like "there is a predator in the bushes that is large"--which I don't see as being any more or less "complex" than Mary likes Jon.
yes fine. these facts are known. the issue isn't about the complexity of the meaning conveyed, it's about whether the substrings have distinct meanings of their own. no research has shown this.
also note that the article you posted has nothing to do with this particular issue, though it is interesting. it has to do with learning strategies, not how strings relate to meanings.