TThe ability to use a particularly complex and multifaceted language to communicate distinguishes humans from other animal species. But how did it develop? This is an incredibly difficult question to answer (after all, spoken words do not leave behind fossils). “There are influential people among us… who claim to believe that language is an entirely evolutionary process. That it somehow emerged in the brain in a primitive form and then became useful,” Cormac McCarthy once wrote in a paper. Nautilus.
Now a new basis published V Science avoids the narrow vision of any single point of view in order to chart a new, more comprehensive course for future researchers.
Written by a team of 10 experts from a variety of disciplines, this new approach reflects the diverse backgrounds of its authors, using an approach that combines linguistics, psychology, molecular genetics, and more.
The researchers argue that the evolution of language occurred through a series of coinciding events in human evolutionary history, including vocal learning, linguistic structure, and sociality. Although none of the advances on their own were sufficient for the evolution of language, collectively they seem to have created fertile ground that allowed the language to take root.
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For example, the ability to learn new vocalizations from experience is critical for speech, and although present in other animals such as songbirds and bats, it is clearly not sufficient on its own for speech development. Moreover, the emergence of a grammar that allows words to be systematically recombined is a key component of language, but requires certain cognitive conditions. Finally, the authors point to sociality as an important driver of language development. Language is fundamentally a social tool, and humans seem, especially among animals, to share information with each other.
The new concept does not support any single theory of language evolution, the authors emphasize; this shows a way forward for future research.
“It is important to note that our goal was not to come up with our own explanation for the evolution of language,” study author Inbal Arnon said in the journal. statement. “Instead, we wanted to show how multifaceted and biocultural perspectives, combined with new data sources, can shed new light on old questions.”
Language undoubtedly evolved through a complex and collaborative process, and unraveling its mysteries also requires a complex, collaborative approach.
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