Playing with language, creating complexity: Has play contributed to the evolution of complex language?

Abstract

We argue that enhanced play may have contributed to the emergence of complex language systems in modern humans (Homo sapiens). To support this idea, we first discuss evidence for an expansion of playing behavior connected to the extended childhood of modern human children, and the potential of this period for the transmission of complex cultural traits, including language. We then link two of the most important functions of play—exploration and innovation—to the potential for cumulative cultural evolution in general and for the emergence of complex language in particular. If correct, the shorter childhood of Neanderthals—involving restrictions on time to experiment and innovate—may have restricted their language (and other symbolic) system/s. Consequently, fully investigating the role that play may have had in the transmission of language and the development of symbolic cultures in both modern humans and Neanderthals provides a new avenue of research for Paleolithic archaeology and related disciplines.

Neanderthals as familiar strangers and the human spark: How the ‘golden years’ of Neanderthal research reopen the question of human uniqueness

“…The emergence of complex language, giving modern humans a crucial fitness advantage, is a common explanation for the demise of the Neanderthal (Villa and Roebroeks 2014 ). It has been suggested that Neanderthals had a more restricted language system because of, for example, a shorter childhood (Langley et al 2020 ) or a restricted working memory (Rossano 2010 ).…”

Homo neanderthalensis and the evolutionary origins of ritual inHomo sapiens

“…shows social and cognitive preparedness to engage in ritual (23,28,30,74). In overimitation, the sequence of modelled actions includes those that are causally actions tend to arouse over-imitation responses, which themselves may also be more memorable (9), and which may suppress innovation and change.…”

“…Over-imitation is increasingly considered the most compelling way in which the mind (whether that of a modern H. sapiens child or now-extinct hominins) shows social and cognitive preparedness to engage in ritual [23,28,30,75]. In over-imitation, the sequence of modelled actions includes those that are causally irrelevant (e.g.…”

“…The presence of interregional variation in Neanderthal biface traditions similarly indicates the transmission of cultural knowledge between generations [25], with the technological continuity of the Mousterian a feature of the Eurasian Middle Palaeolithic [26]. This technological stability, relative to nearcontemporary H. sapiens, is the subject of debate [27], with recent research suggesting that a predominance of high-fidelity imitation without much experimentation in Neanderthal social learning may explain the technological stability ( [28], see also [29][30][31]). Neanderthals, then, were expert hunter-gatherers living in a variety of environments, who transmitted cultural knowledge over tens of thousands of years.…”

Children and innovation: A Wenner‐Gren workshop

“…Hominin life histories, as tracked through anatomical proxies, differed as did the provisioning of youngsters with, for instance, playthings . In this light, it has recently been suggested by the authors that children may, in fact, be one of the primary drivers of technological and cultural innovation—ultimately pushing humankind toward increasingly complex languages and technologies. In addition—and not trivially—this focus on children and their ontogenetic niches may also bring paleoanthropologists closer to understanding why innovations are unevenly distributed in space and time both before and after the emergence of fully modern humans.…”