Case for Biological Origins of Language Grows Stronger

The project's major difficulty has been that although there are good theoretical and linguistic reasons for believing that our speaking capacity evolved, the physical evidence for language's biological development has been wanting. The argument is not over, but new genetic, fossil, and arc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioscience 2008-05, Vol.58 (5), p.472-472
Main Author: Bolles, Edmund Blair
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
BioBriefs
Conferences
Conferences (Gatherings)
Evidence
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Genetic aspects
Genomics
Humans
Language
Language and languages
Linguistics
Neanderthals
News and
Opinion
Origin
Physiological aspects
Pulmonary alveoli
Speech
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The project's major difficulty has been that although there are good theoretical and linguistic reasons for believing that our speaking capacity evolved, the physical evidence for language's biological development has been wanting. The argument is not over, but new genetic, fossil, and archaeological evidence suggests that by half a million years ago-well before the split in the human lineage between H. sapiens and Neanderthals-our ancestors had evolved the biological basis of at least a primitive form of speech.
ISSN:0006-3568
1525-3244
DOI:10.1641/B580518