The twittering of both birdsong and social text inadvertently tells more than intended. The mode of the twittering has info the message didn't mention. Pitch, inflection, and phrasing tells listeners what the messenger might rather not say: species; condition; location; and much else.
How-said matters as much as what-said: to predators and internet communicators alike.
Marshall Mcluhan said the medium is the message; by which he meant that the vehicle carrying the content has as much to say as what's said in the content. A telegram gets more attention than a postcard. Trendy raves get more attention than reasoned treatise.
People search for meaning in what's said. Animals and plants mostly listen to tone.
A sigh and sad shrug is likely harder on a naughty dog than any "Bad dog, bad dog" scolding. Dogs can’t always figure out why Top Dog is so mad. They often write-it-off as just the Alfa leader being cranky, as usual.
What a different effect is made by showing disappointment. Now Dog is troubled. He's failed at primary pack behavior - running right with the pack.
Packs that don't run right don't survive. Dog still doesn't know what he did wrong, but he's a lot sorrier about doing it.
Saying is always about more than what's said.
Emerson in his essay: Works and Days writes,
"You must hear the bird's song without attempting to render it into nouns and verbs". So too, all sorts of twittering. Not because there's no glory in nouns and verbs, but because nouns and verbs so inconsistently tell the message behind the message.
I've great respect for words, and the proper meaning of words. Unfortunately, not many do.
Most of the world speaks in signs, symbols, and innuendo. I suppose that's because of some natural imprecision of thought. Perhaps it's because lazy thinking is easier.
The modern-day excessive use of the emoji is a tiresome example.
I must listen less for nouns and verbs, and listen more, for whimpers, moans, and roars. These are the language-forms that existed before words. They're still in use. Words can be misunderstood. Primal yowling, whether in approval or protest, is unmistakable.
I should weave my words with a little more yowling. Polite yowling, of course. I'm sure it would be more communitive. On the other hand, how communitive do I want to be?
Communication is not as important to me as it is to many other creatures - cats, dogs, birds, and most of the twittering Web.
Cats, dogs, birds, and the like, don't communicate anything until they think they've no other choice. Human twittering is more often intended to entertain. I've even less interest in being entertaining than I have in being communitive.
I'd rather write words than twitter. Maybe literacy will one day make a comeback to pre-21st century respect?
It's bound to happen eventually - isn't it?