Q&A: What is human language, when did it evolve and why should we care? (original) (raw)

Abstract

Human language is unique among all forms of animal communication. It is unlikely that any other species, including our close genetic cousins the Neanderthals, ever had language, and so-called sign 'language' in Great Apes is nothing like human language. Language evolution shares many features with biological evolution, and this has made it useful for tracing recent human history and for studying how culture evolves among groups of people with related languages. A case can be made that language has played a more important role in our species' recent (circa last 200,000 years) evolution than have our genes. What is special about human language? Human language is distinct from all other known animal forms of communication in being compositional. Human language allows speakers to express thoughts in sentences comprising subjects, verbs and objects-such as 'I kicked the ball'-and recognizing past, present and future tenses. Compositionality gives human language an endless capacity for generating new sentences as speakers combine and recombine sets of words into their subject, verb and object roles. For instance, with just 25 different words for each role, it is already possible to generate over 15,000 distinct sentences. Human language is also referential, meaning speakers use it to exchange specific information with each other about people or objects and their locations or actions. What is animal 'language' like? Animal 'language' is nothing like human language. Among primates, vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) produce three distinct alarm calls in response to the presence of snakes, leopards and eagles [1]. A number of parrot species can mimic human sounds, and

Key takeaways

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  1. Human language evolved around 150,000 to 200,000 years ago, demonstrating unique compositionality and referentiality.
  2. Language has likely played a more significant role in human evolution than genetic changes in the last 200,000 years.
  3. Animal communication lacks the compositionality found in human language, limiting its complexity and generative capabilities.
  4. The FOXP2 gene shows differences between humans and Neanderthals, suggesting language development occurred after our split.
  5. Linguistic phylogenies can trace human cultural evolution, revealing insights into agricultural expansion and societal changes.

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