How old is human speech

In asking about the origins of human language, we first have to make clear what the question is. The question is not how languages gradually developed over time into the languages of the world today.

Rather, it is how the human species developed over time so that we - and not our closest relatives, the chimpanzees and bonobos - became capable of using language. And what an amazing development this was!

No other natural communication system is like human language. Human language can express thoughts on an unlimited number of topics the weather, the war, the past, the future, mathematics, gossip, fairy tales, how to fix the sink It can be used not just to convey information, but to solicit information questions and to give orders.

Unlike any other animal communication system, it contains an expression for negation - what is not the case. Every human language has a vocabulary of tens of thousands of words, built up from several dozen speech sounds. Speakers can build an unlimited number of phrases and sentences out of words plus a smallish collection of prefixes and suffixes, and the meanings of sentences are built from the meanings of the individual words.

What is still more remarkable is that every normal child learns the whole system from hearing others use it. Animal communication systems, in contrast, typically have at most a few dozen distinct calls, and they are used only to communicate immediate issues such as food, danger, threat, or reconciliation. Many of the sorts of meanings conveyed by chimpanzee communication have counterparts in human 'body language'.

For animals that use combinations of calls such as some songbirds and some whales , the meanings of the combinations are not made up of the meanings of the parts though there are many species that have not been studied yet. And the attempts to teach apes some version of human language, while fascinating, have produced only rudimentary results.

So the properties of human language are unique in the natural world. How did we get from there to here? All present-day languages, including those of hunter-gatherer cultures, have lots of words, can be used to talk about anything under the sun, and can express negation. As far back as we have written records of human language - years or so - things look basically the same. Languages change gradually over time, sometimes due to changes in culture and fashion, sometimes in response to contact with other languages.

But the basic architecture and expressive power of language stays the same. The question, then, is how the properties of human language got their start. Obviously, it couldn't have been a bunch of cavemen sitting around and deciding to make up a language, since in order to do so, they would have had to have a language to start with! Intuitively, one might speculate that hominids human ancestors started by grunting or hooting or crying out, and 'gradually' this 'somehow' developed into the sort of language we have today.

Such speculations were so rampant years ago that in the French Academy banned papers on the origins of language! The problem is in the 'gradually' and the 'somehow'. Chimps grunt and hoot and cry out, too. What happened to humans in the 6 million years or so since the hominid and chimpanzee lines diverged, and when and how did hominid communication begin to have the properties of modern language? Of course, many other properties besides language differentiate humans from chimpanzees: lower extremities suitable for upright walking and running, opposable thumbs, lack of body hair, weaker muscles, smaller teeth - and larger brains.

According to current thinking, the changes crucial for language were not just in the size of the brain, but in its character: the kinds of tasks it is suited to do - as it were, the 'software' it comes furnished with.

So the question of the origin of language rests on the differences between human and chimpanzee brains, when these differences came into being, and under what evolutionary pressures. The basic difficulty with studying the evolution of language is that the evidence is so sparse.

Spoken languages don't leave fossils, and fossil skulls only tell us the overall shape and size of hominid brains, not what the brains could do. About the only definitive evidence we have is the shape of the vocal tract the mouth, tongue, and throat : Until anatomically modern humans, about , years ago, the shape of hominid vocal tracts didn't permit the modern range of speech sounds.

But that doesn't mean that language necessarily began then. This comparison enabled the team to identify differentially methylated regions DMRs between the human and Neanderthal-Denisovan groups, and between humans and chimps. Current research suggests a deep evolutionary origin for human language and speech. They also lack the neural networks necessary for producing and processing speech.

One key contributor to the evolution of human speech is the FOXP2 transcription factor. Some members had only one copy of FOXP2 and had extreme difficulty talking; their speech was unintelligible, and problems extended to orofacial motor control. They also had difficulties forming and understanding English sentences. The importance of FOXP2 has been further confirmed by knock-in mouse studies.

When the human version of the gene for the FOXP2 transcription factor is inserted into mouse embryos, the animals exhibited enhanced synaptic connectivity and malleability in cortical—basal ganglia neural circuits that regulate motor control, including speech.

Exactly how the brain dictates the movement of the vocal tract to produce speech remains murky. To sip a cup of coffee or type at a keyboard, for example, hand, arm, wrist, and other movements are coded in matrisomes. Similar matrisomes likely govern the muscles that move the tongue, lips, jaw, and larynx and control lung pressure during speech, but researchers are just starting to explore this idea.

In short, brains and anatomy were both involved in the evolution of human speech and language. However, the available archaeological evidence suggested that their brains were quite advanced, and that, unlike monkeys, they could talk, albeit with reduced intelligibility. We concluded that Neanderthals possessed both speech and language. In short, current research suggests a deep evolutionary origin for human language and speech, with our ancestors possessing capabilities close to our own as long as , years ago.

Speech is an essential part of human culture, and thus of human evolution. In the first edition of On the Origin of Species , Darwin stressed the interplay of natural selection and ecosystems: human culture acts as an agent to create new ecosystems, which, in turn, directs the course of natural selection. Language is the mechanism by which the aggregated knowledge of human cultures is transmitted, and until very recent times, speech was the sole medium of language.

Humans have retained a strange vocal tract that enhances the robustness of speech. We could say that we are because we can talk. How vocalizations become human speech Pipe organs provide a useful analogy for the function of the human vocal tract.

Acoustics and physiology of human speech Humans have a unique anatomy that supports our ability to produce complex language. The elastic recoil of the lungs provides the necessary acoustic energy, while the diaphragm, intercostal muscles, and abdominal muscles manipulate how that air is released through the larynx, a complex structure that houses the vocal cords, and the supralaryngeal vocal tract SVT , which includes the oral cavity and the pharynx, the cavity behind the mouth and above the larynx.

The principal sounds that form words—known as formant frequencies—are produced by changes to the positions of the lips, tongue, and larynx. In addition to the anatomy of the SVT, humans have evolved increased synaptic connectivity and malleability in certain neural circuits in the brain important for producing and understanding speech.

Specifically, circuits linking cortical regions and the subcortical basal ganglia appear critical to support human language. Read More. Is Your Brain Wired for Numbers? As a result, the larynx, which is anchored to the root of the tongue, can form a sealed airway, allowing babies to breathe while suckling. Our low larynx allows room for an extended pharynx and this structure enables us to produce the wide range of sounds we use in speech.

Neanderthal skull bases appear to be less arched than those of modern humans but more arched than those of modern apes. This suggests that the Neanderthals would have been capable of some speech but probably not the complete range of sounds that modern humans produce. The hyoid bone is a small, U-shaped bone that attaches to the larynx at the top of the vocal tract.

Fossilised hyoid bones are very rarely found, so this Neanderthal hyoid from Kebara, Israel, was a fascinating discovery. Its similarity to those of modern humans was seen as evidence by some scientists that Neanderthals possessed a modern vocal tract and were therefore capable of fully modern speech. However, recent studies show that hyoid shape is not linked to the structure of the vocal tract. Pig hyoids, for example, are almost identical to those of modern humans.

Researchers studying Neanderthal genes discovered that they shared the same version of a gene FOXP2 with modern humans. FOXP2 is the only gene known so far that plays a key role in language. When mutated, it primarily affects language without affecting other abilities. This gene appears in different forms in other vertebrates where it performs a slightly different function.

This suggests the gene mutated not long before the split between the Neanderthals and modern human lines. However, there are plenty of genes involved in language so it takes more than the FOXP2 gene to prove a language ability.

There is little reason to doubt that these people had the ability to talk and use symbolic language. Although Cro-Magnon people have left no evidence of written language, they produced symbolic art, performed long distance trade, held ritual burial ceremonies and planned and designed a technologically advanced tool kit.

Art and symbolism Art is the earliest unambiguous evidence of symbolic behaviour and, like language, requires a shared system of meanings in order to communicate its message. Evidence of art prior to 40, years ago is limited and solid evidence of symbolism only occurs after this time. Complex tools The earliest tools that appear in the archaeological record 2. By comparison the Cro-Magnon tool kit was complex, varied and innovative.

This reflects intentional design and planning which are the basis of complex mental processes and can be associated with language. Burials and ritual behaviour Most of the human remains are from deliberate burials and are accompanied with grave goods and covered with ochre. This is evidence for ritual behaviour and interaction with the dead, suggesting some kind of belief in an afterlife.

The mental processes associated with such abstract concepts as spiritualism and religion can be associated with the capability for modern language.

The 90, year-old double burial from Jebel Qafzeh, Israel is one of the earliest that shows careful placement of the deceased.