Several misconceptions regarding the status of human communication systems relative to the systems of other animals are discussed in this paper. Arguments are offered supporting the expansion of the communication discipline to include the study of the communication systems of other species. The "communicative continuity" view which ranks man at the top of a continuum of general animal intelligence, and the "speech superiority" view, which stresses that man's ability to speak makes him different from other animals, are analyzed. It is argued that once the fallacies of the "communicative continuity" and "speech superiority" positions are acknowledged--that man's sign systems are not at the apex of some straight-line continuum of evolution in communication--then it becomes apparent that there is no reason for limiting the study of communication to the communication of a single species. The remainder of the paper presents several additional reasons for including the communication of other animals in the study of communication and outlines the points that should be included in an evolutionary framework if it is to be accurate. (RB)