How humans evolved language

How humans evolved language

Read an academic text about how humans evolved language to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

A

Thanks to the field of linguistics we know much about the development of the 5,000 plus languages in existence today. We can describe their grammar and pronunciation and see how their spoken and written forms have changed over time. For example, we understand the origins of the Indo-European group of languages, which includes Norwegian, Hindi and English, and can trace them back to tribes in eastern Europe in about 3000 BC.

So, we have mapped out a great deal of the history of language, but there are still areas we know little about. Experts are beginning to look to the field of evolutionary biology to find out how the human species developed to be able to use language. So far, there are far more questions and half-theories than answers.

B

We know that human language is far more complex than that of even our nearest and most intelligent relatives like chimpanzees. We can express complex thoughts, convey subtle emotions and communicate about abstract concepts such as past and future. And we do this following a set of structural rules, known as grammar. Do only humans use an innate system of rules to govern the order of words? Perhaps not, as some research may suggest dolphins share this capability because they are able to recognise when these rules are broken.

C

If we want to know where our capability for complex language came from, we need to look at how our brains are different from other animals. This relates to more than just brain size; it is important what other things our brains can do and when and why they evolved that way. And for this there are very few physical clues; artefacts left by our ancestors don't tell us what speech they were capable of making. One thing we can see in the remains of early humans, however, is the development of the mouth, throat and tongue. By about 100,000 years ago, humans had evolved the ability to create complex sounds. Before that, evolutionary biologists can only guess whether or not early humans communicated using more basic sounds.

D

Another question is, what is it about human brains that allowed language to evolve in a way that it did not in other primates? At some point, our brains became able to make our mouths produce vowel and consonant sounds, and we developed the capacity to invent words to name things around us. These were the basic ingredients for complex language. The next change would have been to put those words into sentences, similar to the 'protolanguage' children use when they first learn to speak. No one knows if the next step – adding grammar to signal past, present and future, for example, or plurals and relative clauses – required a further development in the human brain or was simply a response to our increasingly civilised way of living together.

Between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, though, we start to see the evidence of early human civilisation, through cave paintings for example; no one knows the connection between this and language. Brains didn't suddenly get bigger, yet humans did become more complex and more intelligent. Was it using language that caused their brains to develop? Or did their more complex brains start producing language?

E

More questions lie in looking at the influence of genetics on brain and language development. Are there genes that mutated and gave us language ability? Researchers have found a gene mutation that occurred between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago, which seems to have a connection with speaking and how our brains control our mouths and face. Monkeys have a similar gene, but it did not undergo this mutation. It's too early to say how much influence genes have on language, but one day the answers might be found in our DNA.

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Download
Worksheet80.59 KB

Language level

Average: 4.1 (57 votes)
Profile picture for user Rafaela1

Submitted by Rafaela1 on Fri, 26/03/2021 - 13:02

Permalink
Maybe learning language is something like gettting a passport to a certain community....? ;)

I think learning a language could be the way to get the access to a nation or community; I suport your idea.

Submitted by bkocak on Fri, 26/03/2021 - 08:26

Permalink
I think monkeys and dolphins have a complex language system, but they communicate in a way that we humans do. It is clear that they have the intelligence level closest to the human species and therefore are similar in terms of language development and processes. In addition, we see that the animals studied with the experiments carried out perform many tasks.

Submitted by Vinicius D'Agosto on Thu, 25/03/2021 - 00:09

Permalink
I believe dolphins and monkeys do comunicate in their very specific languages, even though they aren't as complex as human language. As I know from studies I've read, chimpanzees and dolphins can exchange simple tasks information, such as where to obtain food and if there is any danger nearby. However, they cannot express feelings or abstract concepts by using words and language structures. Instead, they comunicate their emotions by body expressions, gestures and general behaviour.
Profile picture for user Rafaela1

Submitted by Rafaela1 on Tue, 02/03/2021 - 12:27

Permalink
Despite that monkeys and dolphins don't have complex language like humans do, they communicate and collaborate with each other in some situations. ;)

Submitted by Ehsan on Tue, 02/03/2021 - 06:45

Permalink
yes, I think they have complex language but it is not as complex as human language.

Submitted by emanuellyfurriel on Tue, 29/12/2020 - 23:15

Permalink
I think our species is far more advanced than the other ones in terms of linguistic. We have thousands of other languages and each of them has its own rules and phonetics, therefore, dolphins and monkeys may be intelligent but their communication is not as advanced as ours.

Submitted by Ludmi58 on Wed, 14/10/2020 - 18:13

Permalink
I have never really thought about the complexity of dolphins or monkeys' language. However, I do think they must have a way to communicate, not as complex as ours but there nonetheless. What makes the difference between human and other species in terms of communication is that we have complex grammar, semantics, syntax and much more. That is why we cannot compare our way of communicating with the one other species have.

Submitted by Abdulhadi94 on Sun, 11/10/2020 - 18:47

Permalink
Do you think monkeys and dolphins have complex language like humans do? yes i do because they are using a language to communicate so it is obviously they have complex language as i read in the text the dolphins can notice if one of them make abnormal sound

Submitted by Joane on Sat, 01/08/2020 - 15:33

Permalink
Could totally be for me. It is clear that there are significant evidences between these mammals and human beings. Nevertheless, both of these has found the way to communicate between their species, and that seems to me extremely unique.