The Evolution of Language: A Comparative Review

Fitch, W. Tecumseh

doi:10.1007/s10539-005-5597-1

Cited by 167 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 159 publications

(156 reference statements)

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“…Thus, despite the fact that language in toto is unique to our species, most components underlying it are shared, sometimes very broadly and sometimes only with a few other species. Because I have already discussed these many shared capacities in detail in other places (Fitch, 2005(Fitch, , 2010, I will only mention the highlights here.…”

Section: The Shared Foundationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

2017

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The study of language evolution, and human cognitive evolution more generally, has often been ridiculed as unscientific, but in fact it differs little from many other disciplines that investigate past events, such as geology or cosmology. Well-crafted models of language evolution make numerous testable hypotheses, and if the principles of strong inference (simultaneous testing of multiple plausible hypotheses) are adopted, there is an increasing amount of relevant data allowing empirical evaluation of such models. The articles in this special issue provide a concise overview of current models of language evolution, emphasizing the testable predictions that they make, along with overviews of the many sources of data available to test them (emphasizing comparative, neural, and genetic data). The key challenge facing the study of language evolution is not a lack of data, but rather a weak commitment to hypothesistesting approaches and strong inference, exacerbated by the broad and highly interdisciplinary nature of the relevant data. This introduction offers an overview of the field, and a summary of what needed to evolve to provide our species with language-ready brains. It then briefly discusses different contemporary models of language evolution, followed by an overview of different sources of data to test these models. I conclude with my own multistage model of how different components of language could have evolved.

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Section: The Shared Foundationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

2017

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“…This makes a hypothesis in which complex signals (''song'') evolved first, and that meanings were added to these signals later (e.g., Wray, 2002) quite parsimonious from a comparative viewpoint. For further discussion, see (Fitch, 2004;Fitch, 2005;Mithen, 2005).…”

Section: Music As Protolanguagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ultimately, we might expect more rapid progress in understanding the biology of music, because music has better analogs in the natural world (e.g., bird or whale ''song'', convergently evolved) and because several human musical abilities have plausible homologous precursors in our primate relatives. But at present, discussions of the biology and evolution of lan-guage have progressed further, and thus biolingustics provides a context and framework for my discussion here (Fitch, 2005;Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

2006

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Studies of the biology of music (as of language) are highly interdisciplinary and demand the integration of diverse strands of evidence. In this paper, I present a comparative perspective on the biology and evolution of music, stressing the value of comparisons both with human language, and with those animal communication systems traditionally termed ''song''. A comparison of the ''design features'' of music with those of language reveals substantial overlap, along with some important differences. Most of these differences appear to stem from semantic, rather than structural, factors, suggesting a shared formal core of music and language. I next review various animal communication systems that appear related to human music, either by analogy (bird and whale ''song'') or potential homology (great ape bimanual drumming). A crucial comparative distinction is between learned, complex signals (like language, music and birdsong) and unlearned signals (like laughter, ape calls, or bird calls). While human vocalizations clearly build upon an acoustic and emotional foundation shared with other primates and mammals, vocal learning has evolved independently in our species since our divergence with chimpanzees. The convergent evolution of vocal learning in other species offers a powerful window into psychological and neural constraints influencing the evolution of complex signaling systems (including both song and speech), while ape drumming presents a fascinating potential homology with human instrumental music. I next discuss the archeological data relevant to music evolution, concluding on the basis of prehistoric bone flutes that instrumental music is at least 40,000 years old, and perhaps much older. I end with a brief review of adaptive functions proposed for music, concluding that no one selective force (e.g., sexual selection) is adequate to explaining all aspects of human music. I suggest that questions about ARTICLE IN PRESSthe past function of music are unlikely to be answered definitively and are thus a poor choice as a research focus for biomusicology. In contrast, a comparative approach to music promises rich dividends for our future understanding of the biology and evolution of music.

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“…Whilst we have relatively good insight into various aspects of life of our hominid ancestors, the evolution of language is still largely hypothetical. The lack of "fossilisation" of language prior to the arrival of writing has made it difficult to draw inferences about the presence and form of language in our hominid ancestors (Fitch, 2005). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Determining homologies between primate communication and the narrow language faculty is important because it allows research efforts to focus on those key innovations which characterised the transition from pre-linguistic to linguistic communication in humans. Additionally, determining those traits of communication that are different from the communicative system of our closest living relatives, but are analogous with traits in other more distant taxa, is a key issue because it allows us to determine which adaptive pressures selected for language, and how these pressures have shaped the form and function of human language faculty (Fitch, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usage and comprehension of manual gestures in wild chimpanzees

2012

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An important element in understanding the evolutionary origin of human language is to explore homologous traits in cognition and communication between primates and humans (Burling, 1993, Hewes, 1973. One proposed modality of language evolution is that of gestural communication, defined as communicative movements of hands without using or touching objects (de Waal, 2003). While homologies between primate calls and language have been relatively well explored, we still have a limited understanding of how cognitive abilities may have shaped the characteristics of primate gestures (Corballis, 2003). In this Ph.D. research, I investigated the cognitive skills underlying gestural communication in both wild and language trained chimpanzees, with a special focus on the repertoire and the intentionality of production and comprehension. The study of cognitive skills underlying the production of the repertoire and the role of intentionality is important because these skills are cognitively demanding and are a prerequisite in human infants for their ability to acquire language (Baldwin, 1995, Olson, 1993. My research suggests that chimpanzee gestural communication is cognitively complex and may be homologous with the cognitive skills evident in pre-verbal infants on the cusp of language acquisition.Chimpanzees display a multifaceted and complex signal repertoire of manual gestures. These gestures are the prototypes, within which there is variation, and between which the iv boundaries are not clear-cut, but there is gradation apparent along several morphological components. Both wild and language trained chimpanzees communicate intentionally about their perceived desires and the actions that they want the recipients to undertake. They do not just express their emotions, but they communicate flexibly by adjusting their communicative tactics in response to the comprehension states of the recipient. Whilst chimpanzees communicate their intentions flexibly, the messages conveyed are specific. However, recipients comprehend gestures flexibly in light of the signaller"s overall intentions.Whilst wild and language trained chimpanzee gestural communication revealed similar cognitive characteristics, language trained chimpanzees outperformed wild apes in that they had ability to use signals which made distinctions that human deictic words can make. Whilst these differences between wild and language trained chimpanzees may be due to the different methodological approaches used, it is conceivable that language training may have influenced captive ape cognitive skills in the representational domain. These results from wild and language trained chimpanzees indicate that chimpanzees possess some form of cognitive skills necessary for language development and that cognitive skills underlying repertoire and use in chimpanzees are a shared capacity between humans, other apes and a common ancestor. These findings render theories of the gestural origins of language more plausible.v

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The Evolution of Language: A Comparative Review

Cited by 167 publications

References 159 publications

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

Usage and comprehension of manual gestures in wild chimpanzees

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