Reconstructing prehistoric languages

Abstract

This theme issue builds on the surge of interest in the field of language evolution as part of the broader field of human evolution, gathering some of the field's most prominent experts in order to achieve a deeper, richer understanding of human prehistory and the nature of prehistoric languages. Taken together, the contributions to this issue begin to outline a profile of the structural and functional features of prehistoric languages, including the type of sounds, the nature of the earliest grammars, the characteristics of the earliest vocabularies and some preferred uses, like conversation and insult. By also correlating certain specific features of language with the changes in brain organization during prehistory, the contributions to this issue directly engage the genetic and the neuroscientific aspects of human evolution and cognition. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.

The evolution of human music in light of increased prosocial behavior: a new model

“…It is beyond the scope of this paper to delve into the distinctive features of proto-languages spoken (or signed) by other hominin species (but see [14,[435][436][437][438][439][440] for reviews). As far as our own species is concerned, one could hypothesize that at this early stage, levels of reactive aggression were still high, thereby precluding prolonged contacts with conspecifics, long utterances, and cooperative turn-taking -instead, allowing just brief verbal contacts via short single-word commands, threats, and exclamations [225,367,369]. This is what we qualify as human proto-language (in distinction from hypothetical proto-languages of other hominins).…”

“…The basic backbone of our proposal that a reduction in reactive aggression might have contributed to the complexity of language and music relies on the fact that the same cortical-subcortical circuits inhibit aggression and control syntactic chunking. The reduction of aggression and the emergence of early expressive forms of language aimed for verbal aggression might reinforce this mechanism [367]. We hypothesize that the same virtuous feedback loop could be involved in the evolution of music, where music genres, dedicated to expression of the musical emotion of anger, have occupied an important place from the earliest known civilizations to the present.…”

“…This is because the central property of music -hierarchical structure -depends to a great extent on cortico-basal ganglia-thalamocortical structures that are shared with language [366]. The same mechanisms of increased neuronal connectivity between cortical and subcortical components that are implicated in syntactic chunking of increasingly higher orders of complexity are also implicated in the growing suppression/inhibition of reactive aggression [367]. As argued by Benítez-Burraco and Progovac [368], a reduction in reactive aggression entails an increased cortical control over subcortical structures, supporting the advance in processing hierarchical structures not only in the domain of language, but also of music -possibly, in the process of their coevolution.…”

“…Another putative arena for testing some of our predictions is Tourette's syndrome [367,369]. This condition is typically associated with high levels of reactive aggression, which often materializes as tics and profane language.…”

The evolution of human music in light of increased prosocial behavior: a new model

“…Also, archaeological and paleoanthropological evidence is richer for archaic humans than for other hominins. Yet another reason for focusing on our species alone is our implementation of the selfdomestication hypothesis of human evolution [1], following the approach to the evolution of language by Benítez-Burraco and Progovac [225,367], which focused on the evolution of human languages mostly through a cultural mechanism, leaving matters like faculty of language and human linguisticality aside. Similarly, we leave aside the controversies of musicality and musical 8 By "high level" we mean that humans could easily become angry and violently attack closely related and familiar friendly persons.…”