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Origins of Language

ANT254, Language and CultureNorth Carolina State University

The central ideas of evolution are that life has a history-changed over time -and that different species share

common ancestors. Does it work for language?

Key Question:

Where did language come from?Sudden development?Gradual development?Evolved?Other?

Noam Chomsky: Does it Matter?

Language comes into existence suddenly as a mutation so it is not very important to talk aboutCan’t really be knownSyntactic structure is key

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Does Chomsky’s opinion matter?

Is it scientifically based?Why is his refusal to be interested largely accepted?

Steve Pinker & Paul Bloom say language is connected to evolution, but so what? Prove it.

Their paper (1999) challenged Chomsky.

What do the evolutionary biologists say?

Jay Stephen GouldIt doesn’t matter.

Phil LiebermanIt matters a lot.

Spandrels!?!Jay Stephen Gould Said that language

is probably a “spandrel”Accidental by-products of other evolutionary changesMental skills evolved by not useful until brain was ready.

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Non-Human Primate and Human Language: How close?

According to Christine Kenneally, The First Word, 2007, animals have the capability for flexible and creative thinkingNot limited to a bag of a few tricksOther primates lack the vocal apparatus for speech, but seem to have at least child-level cognitive abilities.

Phil Lieberman: Who dat!Chomsky student who breaks ranksInterested in biophysics of languageStudies language evolutionStudy of Neandertalspeech capability

Basal ganglia? What dat?A part of speech?

What does Mt. Everest have to do with them?How can they be part of speech?Functions:

Control Cognition Movement Coordination Voluntary Movement

Lieberman…Lieberman studied patients with Parkinsonsand who had speech impairmentsOnly syntax tripped them upMt. Everest study showed basal ganglia affects speech and cognition at high altitudeThus motor control and speech are connectedBasal ganglia are found in other animal speciesSuggests non-humans share genetic traits eventually related to speech.

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Human Paleontology and Population Genetics: Which one is more important

What does paleontology have to do with understanding the origins of speech?What does DNA analysis have to do with it?

What does this map tell you?

Two broad Categories of Primates

HominoidsNon-Human higher primates

Hominids/homininsHuman ancestorsModern humans

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The evolution tree says…Monkeys split into two geographic groups.Humans split off after other primates, not before. Humans are more distantly related to Gorillas than ChimpsChimps are closer genetically to humans than to gorillas.Interesting fact: Apparently, Orang Utans are more “clever” or thoughtful than chimps, at least according to zookeeper tales.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

DNA is the double-stranded molecule that contains the genetic code. DNA is a main component of chromosomes.Why is proximity to primates a consideration for us regarding speech?

Humans and Primates: Who’s on first?

Jared Diamond (The Third Chimpanzee) suggests that the amount of DNA similarity is a key indicator of the closeness to other primates, esp., the Bonobos.Common and pygmy chimps differ in 0.7% DNA.Gorillas differ in 2.3%.Gorillas separated from chimps before humans did.

DNA: One of the ways we determine closeness with other primates

Closest primates are:

Bonobo (pygmy) 98.6% Common chimp 98.4%Gorilla 97.7%Orang Utan 96.4%Gibbon 95.2%

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Humans differ genetically from closest relatives by only 1.2%

Many gestures in Chimps

Are the same in humansUniversal human gestures are recognized by chimps.

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Koko’s gestures are similarRemember the story of “Kong”

Research station in Indonesia

Now, let’s look at

Skeletal anatomy Human paleontology

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Ancient hominids include:

Australopithecines(3-5 MYA) Tanzania

Australopithecus anamensisAustralopithecus africanusAustralopithecus boiseiAustralopithecus afarensisAustralopithecus robustus

Genus Homo 2.5-1.8 MYAHomo erectus (1-2MYA)used fireBig game huntingLeft Africa earlier than later hominids that become H. sapiensCould have mated with later H. habilisBrian size of gorillas, 1/3 smaller than H. sapiensDid not have human speech as we know it

Closer relatives

Homo habilus (Aunt or Uncle closeness)Homo rudolfensisParanthropus boiseiHomo ergaster (Grandfather-mother?)Tool use is associated with all members of this family, though only H. ergaster is on the direct line to humans

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Homo ergasterFirst to have a basically human body form Direct hominid line of ancestry to H. sapiens“Turkana Boy” is from 1.6 MYA2x brain size of chimpanzees, though smaller than oursHand axe invented after 1.5 MYA - major change in tool kit – dominant tool for 1 M years

Homo heidelbergensis

Follows H. ergasterDeveloped prepared-core tool (a stone is shaped and then struck once to produce finished tool)Ancestor of both H. neanderthalensisand H. sapiens.

Homo neanderthalensis

Left Africa much earlier than H. sapiensLived in Europe and W. Asia for 200,000 YDied out 28,000 YACo-existed at same time as H. sapiensH. sapiens migrated from Africa about 60,000 YA, according to MtDNA

Homo sapiens

200,000YA – presentEmerged as a small group in AfricaStable for 100-000 years80,000 – 60,000 YA big changes

Expansion of numbers

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One group left for Europe and Middle East

100,000YAColonies of these H. sapiens died out, no modern traces of their genome presentOur direct fathers and mothers left via N. Africa and then split: to Europe & Asia

Expansion and symbol development

Big changes in technology and cultureGreater usage of unambiguous symbolsNew forms of tools (stone and bone) appearTraces of art, decorations, tradeAdapt to varied hot and cold climatesBy 40,000 YA humans were using speech

Symbol use

Probably starts around 2 MYA when ancestors became bipedalH. neanderthalensis must have had some symbolic ability and probably even borrowed from humans. May have been able to speak somewhat.FOXP2 gene develops quickly in last 200,000 Y and is advantageous to humans

40,000 YA H. sapiens

Was sculpting in stonePainting in cavesCreating a variety of musical instruments and jewelryRitually burying their deadIt took 30,000 years to invent agriculture (though was there a need?)

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Were there other human species?

H. floresiensis “Hobbit” species found on Flores Island, IndonesiaThe new data on the Hobbit reveal little similarity to microcephalics and pygmies and support the theory that the fossil is a member of a unique ancestral species roughly similar in tool use to H. ergaster of 800,000 YABut she stood only about 3 feet tall and had a brain approximately one-third the size of modern adult humans. Evidence suggests she may have lived as recently as 13,000 years ago.

Origins of language?

Monogenesis? A single location from which all humans emergedPolygenesis? More than one location, but similar development in each site, or very early single location of a pre-H. sapiens human, then multiple locationsThus was there a polygenetic or monogenetic linguistic origin?

FOXP2 Gene

Located on chromosome 72 copies of C7 and FOXP2With only 1 working copy – a series of difficulties with language and speechAppear related to brain regions involving motor control1st example of a single gene affecting language ability and speech articulation

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So, to conclude, do you know…

When hominids began to speak?Which hominids had speech approximating that of H. sapiens?By when H. sapiens had modern speech?Which of our ancestors are on our direct line?

Mitochondrial DNAmtDNA is typically passed on only from the mother during sexual reproduction meaning that the mitochondria are clones. This means that there is little change in the mtDNA from generation to generation, unlike nuclear DNA which changes by 50% each generation. Since the mutation rate is easily measured, mtDNA is a powerful tool for tracking matrilineage for example, and has been used in this role for tracking many species back thousands of generations.

Speech begins… When?

By at least 40-30,000 years ago human speech was fully modern.Begins between Australopithecines and Homo Homo habilus (between 4M B.P. and 700,000B.P.)Gestures origins?http://humanorigins.si.eduhttp://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey

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The Human Brain Ape (Gorilla and Chimp) brainsAre asymmetrical like those of humansLarge, left-hemisphere dominant brains evident in apes at least 5 million years agoHumans and primates share “mirror neurons”which form basis for gestures and imitation.But human brains develop for a longer period than ape brains.Human brains are bigger than ape brains when considering body mass.

Basic biological aspects of human language: Brain

Cerebral lateralization Left hemisphereCorpus callosumNeo-Cortex

Broca’s AreaWernicke’s AreaNeurons communicate across the brainFOXP2 gene (2@ on chromosome 7)

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Speech areas

Basic biological aspects of human language: Voice Box

Hyoid BoneLayrnxTracheaTongue Oral/Nasal Cavity

Hyoid bone

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And Putting it all together…

Brain and voice box apparatus work together without any thought by us about how it works… at least until it doesn’t.

Where was the first Language?

What does comparative linguistics tell us?What does an analysis of human mitochondrial DNA tell us?Using both measures would we come up with the same answers?

Proto-World Language

The term Proto-World language refers to the hypothetical latest common ancestor of all the world's languages, an ancient language from which all modern languages and language families – and usually including all known dead languages – derive. would have been spoken roughly 200,000 years ago Very controversial

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Glottochronology

Estimating age of language using Basic word list from suspected related languages with emphasis on cognates

Cognates are words from two or more languages with common origins

Lexico-Statistics (Morris Swadesh)Words change at a constant rateE.g., 80% cognates, <500 years

1. I2. you (singular)

7. this11. who12. what22. one23. two45. fish47. dog

48. louse64. blood65. bone67. egg68. horn69. tail73. ear74. eye75. nose

Morris Swadesh listof 207 basic words, a sample

77. tooth78. tongue83. hand103. know109. die128. give147. sun148. moon150. water155. salt156. stone163. wind167. fire179. year182. full183. new207. name

Reconstruction

Comparing related languages using their cognates to posit original phonemes, morphemes and syntax in common ancestor language

Language families

Genetically related languages (having a common origin)Deceased languages can be reconstructed Linguistic reconstruction produces a proto-language, e.g., Proto-Indo-European

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Nostratic Language?

Merritt Ruhlen, The Origin of Languagesuggests that if you go systematically back and compare cognates you can eventually find a common relationship among all languages.Says that mitochondrial DNA analysis suggests that it is trueCritics suggest that it is too easy to mistake words that are not cognatic as cognates.

Is it correct to assume monogenesis? Or polygenesis?

What reasons might suggest polygenesis?Can we ever know for sure?Are mtDNA studies reliableNote that the Nostratic theory of linguistic origin (one Proto-world language) is akin to the Babel theory of linguistic dispersal and differentiation

Bilingualism and the Brain

How do we acquire two languages?

Acquisition theories for bilinguals: Two hypotheses

Unitary systemSeparate system

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Unitary system

Simultaneous bilinguals begin by constructing one lexicon and one set of semantic rulesLater use two lexicons, but one set of semantic rulesAround 3 yrs, two separate sets of semantic rules

Separate systemInfants differentiate two languages from the beginningConstructing different

Phonemic rulesLexiconsSemantic systems

They practice code-switching (shifting between two languages depending on context and actors) – diff. from code-shifting which is switching from diff. modes of same language)

Bilinguals

Go through same grammar learning stages as monolingualsMistakes in each, separate language correspond to same mistakes that are common to monolinguals children in each language

Second language learning after puberty

Somewhat different process than learning native languageMore of an intellectual processLexical and grammatical knowledge of the new language is stored in a different part of the brain than the first language.

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Success of bilinguals in society

Simultaneous, native bilinguals learn at a slightly slower pace than monolinguals due to extra brain processing required to learn two languages at the same time.

All things being equal, bilinguals have a richer, larger resource base and a more complex understanding of the world than monolinguals and generally do better in school, if one of the languages is not stigmatized.

The status (higher, lower or equal to) ofthe 1st language in the broader society of the 2nd language helps to determine likely success of the bilingual in society.E.g., French in Quebec as compared to Spanish in Texas or Kurdish in Turkey