From Animal Gestures and Songs to the Roots of Language
Animals are constantly communicating with each other. Just walking around campus one may notice birds chirping at each other or squirrels moving their tail to signal another squirrel nearby. I believe that the origins of our modern language can be traced back to the simplest animal gesture or song. The basic structure for efficient communication was set up long before human origins. Natalie Uomini (archaeologist at the University of Liverpool) says “The more we study animals, the more we realize that they have abilities similar to ours. “ It is likely that the first human language contained gestures, similar to those seen in many animals.
In the 1950’s scientists closely studied the communication methods of a chimpanzee named Viki. Scientists raised Viki in a human home and tried to teach her how to speak. Viki proved to be very poor at vocalizing, managing to roughly make out four words (mama, papa, cup, and up). Decades later, scientists found much more success in teaching a chimp sign language. The fact that chimps had much stronger gestures as a communication method than vocalizations probably means that the first human language was based on different forms of gestures. Vocalizations in primates are believed to be more innate than learned. For example the vervet monkey gives out a specific alarm call if a leopard is around.
Both apes and humans rely on language-related centers in the left brain when pointing with their right hand. The left hemisphere of the brain contains specialized regions for language and controls movements of the right side of the body. Researchers found in baboons that during a gesture such as begging for food, they have a strong tendency to move their right hand in making a gesture. A similarity is found in infants using their right hand to point. I believe these resemblances are evidence that human gesture and speech are linked, and are localized in the left part of the brain.
The vocalization aspect of language is likely to be closely related to bird songs. Although primates are our closest relatives they do not seem to have a strong ability for vocal learning. However the ability of infants to mimic the sounds of adults is strongly seen in birds. A researcher found that for vocalization to develop in both humans and birds the infant must be exposed to an adult tutor and be allowed to babble (called subsong in birds) to develop mature vocalizations. Another researcher proved that birds can process human vocalizations. A zebra finch was taught to peck a certain button after hearing the words “white” or “law”. I believe this research is strong proof that there is relatedness between human and bird vocalizations.
The research made in the article I read reveals a lot about the origins of language. I believe the roots of language are in part from developing vocalizations for basic gestures seen in primates. Primates have proved that the use of language is strongly influenced by the left part of the brain. Also in part, language has developed because of the inherited ability found in birds to mimic sounds made by an adult.
Posted by Nick Gast (1)
Source: http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/old/class_text_119.pdf
Hi Nick,
ReplyDeleteI always wondered where and how I learned how to speak. By the time I realized I was vocalizing, I was already speaking whole sentences.
I also wonder how closely related humans are to birds since the lungs and the vocal centers of humans look similar to the lungs and vocal centers of birds. But they might not even be related at all.
Posted by Whitney Huynh
It was interesting for me to read about Viki because I just learned about her in linguistics class this semester. It appears that Viki, like most primates, are bad at speech because of the anatomy of their neck. So basically they trade off the ability of speech to lessen of the chance of them to choke, which makes sense because they are not always able to break up food like we are.
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting that you mentioned the fact that chimps rely on language centers in the left hemisphere of their brain for language because in linguistics class, I learned that while chimps have shown an ability to communicate, they are unable to grasp the complexity of true language - what I mean is that they may be able to learn signs for individual objects, but no primates, as of yet, are able to use correct grammar. I wonder if there has been any recent collaborations between linguistics and scientists in the area of primate communications.
Posted by James Lin
Although seeming similar, I feel humans aren’t closely related enough to birds to make a biological connection, merely only an observational. Perhaps speech came about when primitive humans from different regions met and failed to communicate through gestures alone, requiring the use of grunts and shouts to get points across. I believe teaching a gorilla sign-language shows that primates are capable of more advanced communication.
ReplyDeletePosted by Austin Gray
Primates have proved time and time again to have very advanced language centers and forms of communication. When we were talking about all the different ways of communication that animals utilize, I couldn't help but thinking about how humans and other primate communicate and the diversity and complexity of their (our) signals, from vocalizations to facial expressions, primate communication is truly a wonder of nature.
ReplyDeletePosted by Michael Shi
I totally agree that gesture and speech are closely related. They are both forms of communication and expression. While I do not entirely agree with the statement that human vocal communication evolved from bird vocal communication, it is still an interesting thought as there are many similarities such as multiple meanings or interpretations for the same signal.
ReplyDeletePosted by Michael Thomas
I wonder if you've ever heard of the chimp Lucy? She was raised by a couple who couldn't have kids as their own daughter. I think they has some success until she became an adult.
ReplyDeleteYou mention that "Although primates are our closest relatives they do not seem to have a strong ability for vocal learning," however I'm sure that primates have many vocal signals, just not the same sounds that humans make (as our anatomy is widely deviated). I think it's more likely that humans and birds developed vocal communication separately than together, because it's quite a long way on the genetic tree for that ability to skip so many steps.
Posted by Rachael Mroz
I think it was very interesting how they connected primates such as the chimp to human babies. This shows a direct influence of evolution as well as showing that forms of communication are passed through evolution. I don't think that birds and humans are connected through evolution for their vocal communication. It may have been more of a coincidence than anything because of a large gap in common ancestry.
ReplyDeletelast comment posted by Jobin Oommen
ReplyDeleteI feel that just like many gestures are more innate than learned in monkeys, vocalizations may have been more innate than learned for the early humans. As previously mentioned, monkeys' and humans' anatomies are very diverse. This lead me to believe that cave men did not start by making gestures and then move on to vocalizations, but more practiced with what came more easily to them. Monkeys cannot vocalize as well as humans by any means, so it makes sense that they would move towards gestures, instead of vocalizations. If humans had started out with gestures, I would think that sign language would be our first form of communication and spoken language would be second...
ReplyDeletePosted by Chelsea Van Thof
Vocalization in human beings really is a fascinating topic when you stop and think about it. I remember reading about how when we are younger we are capable of making many different noises that over time we lose the ability to make because we don't use those noises. I also think the experiments done with primate communication is incredible. Of course there is the famous example of Koko the Gorilla who understood around 1000 words in American Sign Language. What I found most touching and fascinating about Koko's case was the insight that language gave into her emotions. Koko was able to communicate not just whether she was hungry or tired, but when she was sad or lonely, which I find an amazing likeness to humans
ReplyDeletePosted by Suzanne Sullivan
In response to Rachel Mroz
ReplyDeleteI actually have not heard about Lucy, though its interesting you found another example of an ape being raised by humans. I wonder if the family was at all successful in teaching Lucy vocalizations.
I see that you agree with many others that it is unlikely that vocalization is related in humans and birds. Although, I do believe that you would have to go as far back as birds to find another group of species that has the ability to vocalize like us. Though it is a ways back so perhaps I am wrong. I would be interested in finding out if their is any relation between the vocal tract of a bird and a human. I wonder if any anatomical structures in the human vocal tract could be traced to birds.
Response by Nick Gast