Language evolution

https://www.newscientist.com/round-up/instant_expert-evolution_of_language/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/science-events/dawn-of-language/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232280-500-the-origins-of-language-discovered-in-music-mime-and-mimicry/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23731660-600-the-tamed-ape-were-humans-the-first-animal-to-be-domesticated/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25333792-600-how-language-evolved-a-new-idea-suggests-its-all-just-a-game/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2295502-dogs-can-pick-out-individual-words-when-we-speak-to-them/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266828-orangutans-create-new-ways-to-communicate-with-each-other-in-captivity/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267734-chimpanzees-seem-to-speak-in-sentences-of-three-or-more-calls/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2216353-we-may-have-a-basic-form-of-sign-language-in-common-with-chimpanzees/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25534041-300-simple-puzzles-are-revealing-why-humans-are-the-only-talking-apes/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126986-400-review-adams-tongue-by-derek-bickerton-and-finding-our-tongues-by-dean-falk/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926691-800-the-evolutionary-story-of-the-language-gene/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2333278-losing-parts-of-our-voice-box-may-have-helped-humans-evolve-to-speak/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2196580-humans-couldnt-pronounce-f-and-v-sounds-before-farming-developed/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2269577-neanderthal-ears-were-tuned-to-hear-speech-just-like-modern-humans/?utm_source=nshum&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nshum_111022&utm_term=Newsletter%20NSHUM_Our%20Human%20Story

Human speech+language evolution is best explained by our hominoid descent & our waterside evolution.
In short, we see (at least) 4 preadaptions:
- hominoid loud territorial calls (laryngeal descent cf. apes, incl. hylobatid songs),
- voluntary breathing (an adaptation for shallow-diving, probably mostly for shellfish, probably early-Pleistocene),
- fine oral movements (lips, tongue, throat, incl. hyoidal descent, for sucking shellfish etc.),
- huge brain (cf. DHA etc. in seafoods, cf. dolphins).
My publications on these subjects:
1986 E Morgan & M Verhaegen New Scientist 1498:62-63 “In the beginning was the water”
1987 Hum Evol 2:381 “Speech origins”
1988 Specul Sci Technol 11:165-171 “Aquatic ape theory and speech origins: a hypothesis”
1992 Language Origins Society Forum 15:17-18 “KNM-ER 1470 and KNM-ER 1805 endocasts”
1995 Med Hypoth 44:409-413 “Aquatic ape theory, speech origins, and brain differences with apes and monkeys”
1995 ReVision 18:34-38 “ Aquatic ape theory, the brain cortex, and language origins”
1997 Hadewijch Antwerp 220 pp “In den Beginne was het Water – Nieuwste Inzichten in de Evolutie van de Mens”
1999 M Verhaegen & S Munro Mother Tongue V:161-168 “Bipeds, tools and speech”
2000 M Verhaegen & S Munro p.236-240“The origins of phonetic abilities: a study of the comparative data with reference to the aquatic theory” in J-L Dessalles, L Ghadakpour eds 2000 "The Evolution of Language" Ecole Nat Sup Télécommunications Paris proceedings“The origins of phonetic abilities: a study of the comparative data with reference to the aquatic theory”
2004 M Verhaegen & S Munro Hum Evol 19:53-70 “Possible preadaptations to speech – a preliminary comparative approach”
2011 M Vaneechoutte, S Munro & M Verhaegen “Seafood, diving, song and speech” p.181-9 in M Vaneechoutte cs eds 2011 ebook Bentham Sci Publ Was Man More Aquatic in the Past? Fifty Years after Alister Hardy: Waterside Hypotheses of Human Evolution"
2022 Eburon Utrecht NL 325 pp “De Evolutie van de Mens - waarom wij rechtop lopen en kunnen spreken”
:-)

littor...@gmail.com wrote:

> Human speech+language evolution is best explained by our hominoid descent & our waterside evolution.
> In short, we see (at least) 4 preadaptions:
> - hominoid loud territorial calls (laryngeal descent cf. apes, incl. hylobatid songs),
> - voluntary breathing (an adaptation for shallow-diving, probably mostly for shellfish, probably early-Pleistocene),

I think this is the most telling. People had to control their breathing. They had to be
able to take control of when they inhale and when/how they exhale. BECAUSE they
were swimming/diving.

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/697985570801057792

Op donderdag 13 oktober 2022 om 22:09:36 UTC+2 schreef JTEM is so reasonable:

> > Human speech+language evolution is best explained by our hominoid descent & our waterside evolution.
> > In short, we see (at least) 4 preadaptions:
> > - hominoid loud territorial calls (laryngeal descent cf. apes, incl. hylobatid songs),
> > - voluntary breathing (an adaptation for shallow-diving, probably mostly for shellfish, probably early-Pleistocene),

> I think this is the most telling. People had to control their breathing. They had to be
> able to take control of when they inhale and when/how they exhale. BECAUSE they
> were swimming/diving.

Yes, voluntary breathing for diving was essential, no doubt, but the shellfish-suction adaptations (hyoidal descent, free lips & tongue movements) & perhaps also the brain enlargement (seafood: DHA etc.?) were also very important?
In any case, it's clear that our speech adaptations originated in our littoral past.