Origin of Speech Marc Verhaegen Mario Vaneechoutte

1. Origin of Speech Marc Verhaegen Mario Vaneechoutte Human Evolution Past, Present & Future Friday May 10th 2013 Grange St. Paul’s Hotel, London, UK MUSIC LANGUAGE

2. Crucial questions about human language I. What skills are sufficient and necessary for language to evolve/emerge/exist? II. How was spoken language (speech) selected? Could language have acted as its own naturally (sexually) selective force? i.e.: better language  more offspring(1) Is language unique to humans? When did language originate? III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 1. Is there universal grammar? (Chomsky, Pinker) Is grammar innate? (Chomsky, Pinker) 2. How important are word order (most linguists), prosody, body language and context as clues to acquire the syntax of a language? IV. May singing abilities have predisposed to speech? (2) V. May a semi-aquatic lifestyle have predisposed to voluntary breath control, improved vocal dexterity, improved song, and vocal learning, and enlarged brains? (3) 1. Pinker S. 1994. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. Willam Morrow. 2. Vaneechoutte M, Skoyles JR. 1998. The memetic origin of language: modern humans as musical primates. Journal of Memetics: 2. ttp://users.ugent.be/~mvaneech/ORILA.FIN.html 3. Vaneechoutte M, Munro S, Verhaegen M. 2011. Seafood, Diving, Song and Speech Pp.181-189. In Vaneechoutte et al. Was Man more aquatic in the past? Bentham eBooks.

3. I. What skills are sufficient and necessary for language to evolve/emerge/exist? 1. Cognitive abilities: Large brain 2. Vocal dexterity: sound/speech production: Common among singing species voluntary breath control: rare among terrestrial animals descended larynx:  flexible tongue: major formant vocal (formant) dexterity: flexible globular tongue, closed dentition muscled lips 3. Vocal learning: sound/speech reproduction: Rare among (terrestrial) mammals 4. Comprehension: Make sense of (random) phonology and (random) syntax. By children!

4. II. How was spoken language (speech) selected? Could it have acted as its own naturally (sexually) selective force? Bloom, Pinker (1): YES, just as better sight is selective pressure that explains complex eye  better communication ability is selective pressure that explains symbolic language But: Speech cannot have been naturally selected in the same straightforward manner as the complex eye, for several reasons 1. Speech is assumed to be unique to humans, the explanation must also account for the uniqueness of speech. 2.Speech is generally assumed to be recent (max 170 000 years) it originated too late to have acted as its own selective force. 3. Independent lines of evolution need to be explainedto make speech possible: 1. Vocal dexterity: better sound/speech production 2. Vocal learning: sound mimicking: Rare among (terrestrial) mammals 3. Cognitive abilities: Large brain 4. Linking (random) phonology and (random) syntax to the real world. By children!  These can only be understood as pre-adaptations for speech, but originally selected/developed for other functionalities. 1. Pinker S. 1994. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. Willam Morrow.

5. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 1. Do humans have universal grammar and innate syntax? (1, 2) Darwin. 1871. The descent of Man "(Language) is certainly not a true instinct, …” ↔ Pinker: The Language Instinct (1) “the actual (bird) songs,..., are no more innate then language is in man.“ ↔ Pinker, Chomsky: grammar is innate “the actual (bird) songs,. …, are learnt from their parents or foster-parents for every language has to be learnt. “ ↔ Pinker, Bloom: “A group of unattended children will develop language” (2) 1. Pinker S. 1994. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. Willam Morrow. 2. Kenneally C. 2007. The First Word. Penguin Books.

6. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 1. Do humans have universal grammar and innate syntax? (1, 2) NO: There is everything but …. Universal Grammar Grammar is a random convention No order in WORD ORDER 1. All possible word orders (Subject, Verb, Object) can be used SVO Cows eat grass English, Finnish, Chinese, Swahili SOV Cows grass eat Turkish, Hindu, Japanese VSO Eat cows grass Welsh, classic Arabic, Samoan VOS Eat grass cows Malagasy (Madagascar), Tzotzil (Mayan) OSV Grass cows eat Kabardian (Northern Caucasus) OVS Grass eat cows Hixkaryana (Brazil) Whatever: Finnish/Hungarian - Greek 2. Word order can change during language evolution: Medieval English: The hye god, whan he hadde Adam maked (Canterbury Tales, 1390) Modern English: The high god, when he had made Adam 3. Every word order is possible, depending on language: Turkish, Hindu, Japanese = reversed of English, Chinese English, Chinese = reversed of Turkish, Hindu, Japanese 1. Chomsky N. 1957. Syntactical structures. Mouton. 2. Pinker S. 1994. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. Willam Morrow.

7. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 2. Is word order most important for syntax? Linguists have been/are obsessed with WORD ORDER and its importance for syntax Deutscher G. (1): “Primitive language relied on one single strategy: ordering of its words” But: WORD ORDER is not even necessary for syntax 1. Word order is not important in some languages: Finnish/Hungarian – Greek can use whatever word order. The Maria (acc.) her fired the Yanis (nom.) The Yanis (nom.) her fired the Maria (acc.) Her fired the Maria (acc.) the Yanis (nom.) Her fired the Yanis (nom.) the Maria (acc.) 1. Deutscher G. 2007. The unfolding of language. Picador.

8. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 2. Is word order most important for syntax? WORD ORDER is not even necessary for syntax In conferring meaning to a sentence, word order is of not of major importance Also prosody: intonation, loudness, rhythm, pitch, pitch contour context body language (facial expression, gesture) For example: 10 sentences (out of many more) with identical word order but different prosody & context  different meaning Declarative/Confirmative 1. You are going to school: Declarative, answering the question ‘What will I do next?’ 2. Yóuare going to school: you, and not your sister, declarative, answering the question ‘Who?’ 3.You are going to schóol: you go to school and not to the pub: answering the question ‘Where?’ Imperative 4. You are going to school!: General imperative 5. Yóu! are going to school!: You, and not your sister, are going to school 7.You are going to schóol!: You go to school and not to the pub • Questioning • 8.You are going to school?: General interrogative (written: reversal of word order, question mark) • 9.You are going to schóol?:Is it to school that you are going? • 10.Yóu? are going to school?: Is it really you who is going to school? I had never expected that.

9. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 3. Is phonology most important for semantics? PHONOLOGY is not even necessary for semantics In conferring meaning to a sentence, phonology is of not of major importance Also prosody: intonation, loudness, rhythm, pitch, pitch contour context body language (facial expression, gesture) ‘Hungry’ means the opposite of ‘Hungry’ Hungry? Do you want some food? I’ll give you some ↕ HUNGRY!! I strongly would appreciate it when you brought me some food ‘Great’ means the opposite of ‘Great’ Congratulations! GREÁT! ↕ Look now what you’ve done. Now you’ve ruined it completely Greàt!? Remark how written language lacks the means to convey all these differences Most linguists studied written language, not real language

10. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 4. Children make use of prosody, body language and context to make sense of random sequences of random sounds 1989. Child Developm 60: 1497-1510. “Importance of prosody (= melody of speech) in communication with infants is further supported by studies of infant processing of complex auditory patterns. 6 month olds: extract melodic contour in a tonal sequence,  infants encode information on ‘melodic contour’ as opposed to absolute frequencies “This [holistic] mode of processing auditory information could enable infants to encode the melodic patterns of infant-directed speech and recognize these characteristic melodies across variations in speaker, segmental content and pitch range”  May singing abilities have predisposed to language? Vaneechoutte M, Skoyles JR. 1998. The memetic origin of language: modern humans as musical primates. Journal of Memetics: 2. http://users.ugent.be/~mvaneech/ORILA.FIN.html

11. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 3. Children make use of prosody, body language and context to make sense of random sequences: syntax of random sounds: phonology May singing abilities have predisposed to language? Mampe B et al. 2009. Curr Biol 19: 1994-1997 Kuhl PK. 2004. Nature Rev. Neuroscience 5: 831

12. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 3. Children make use of prosody, body language and context to make sense of random sequences: syntax of random sounds: phonology May singing abilities have predisposed to language? Syntactic structure in music: hierarchical patterns of tension and relaxation Syntactic structure in language: hierarchical phrase structure  Patel AD. 2003. Nature Neuroscience 6: 674-681.

13. III. How do children manage to absorb whatever random grammar? 3. Children make use of prosody, body language and context to make sense of random sequences: syntax of random sounds: phonology LEFT Language Music Early Later RIGHT Language Music Later Early Main differences Language and Music Syntax: not localisation, but intensity & timing

14. IV. May singing abilities have predisposed to speech? IV.1. Darwin’s suggestion: We sang before we spoke: Song preceeds language IV.2. Is song important in human lives?: It is central to human life & explains social structure dance, rite, trance, bonding memorizing techniques, localisations monogamy, pair bonding group bonding: us vs them IV.3. Music improves mental/memory/motoric abilities including those for speech IV.4. Song = dance, speech = gesture: sound/movement are flip sides of the same coin

15. IV. May singing abilities have predisposed to speech? • IV.1. Song preceeds language • most plausible assumption for several reasons • Pinker S: Music is a byproduct of language: • “I suspect music is auditory cheesecake: • … a delightful dessert but, from an evolutionary perspective, • no more than a by-product of language.” • BUT: several arguments for song to preceed speech (= most parsimonious explanation): • * Song is present in many species ↔ Speech is unique to mankind • Singing/musicality can be easily naturally selected, as has occurred several times • * Infants prefer song over speech (1) • * Vocal flexibility (sound & tone repertoire) needed for song is much higher than for speech. • + different languages use very different segments of the total possible repertoire: •  it can be assumed that these abilities were developed for song, not for speech. • Darwin C. 1871. The Descent of Man: • “Before we used language as we know it today, • we sang, producing true musical cadences in courtship.” • Darwin C. 1872. The expressions of the emotions in man and animals: • “I maintain that the habit of uttering music sounds was first developed, • as a means of courtship, in the early progenitors of man, ...“ • 1. Trehub SE, Nakata T. 2001. Emotion and music in infancy. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue 2001–2002: 37–59.

16. IV. May singing abilities have predisposed to speech? • IV.2. Songis central in human life • explains social structure of our species 1. At present: Music industry is among the biggest on Earth: e.g. concerts with 100 000 people Music all day long on 1000s of radio stations Parties, dance and music to meet, … 2. Song was the means to memorize knowledge/abilities/procedures Ngaa Ruuira Pumanawawhiti: (http://www.maoriboygenius.com/about/) “Maori didn’t have a written language.  So we learn songs, we learn dances about everything like fishing.  A song will tell us how to look for the fish and we would sing it as we went fishing.” 3. Monogamy/Sexual selection Most song birds are monogamous Only 3% of mammals are monogamous: most of them sing Tropical birds and tropical primates sing in duets Many women fall in love with musicians. 4. Strong group bonding: us vs them anthems, national hymns, marching songs, supporters’ chants  a sense of belonging (Vaneechoutte & Skoyles. 1998) Humans are the most musical primates [mammals, animals] Vaneechoutte M, Skoyles JR. 1998. The memetic origin of language: modern humans as musical primates. Journal of Memetics: 2. http://users.ugent.be/~mvaneech/ORILA.FIN.html

17. IV. May singing abilities have predisposed to speech? • IV.3. Music improves mental/memory/motoric abilities • including those for speech: phonetic abilities • 1. Alzheimer patient choirs: patients remember the songs and the melody. • 2. Music training improves mathematical abilities (1). • 3. Music training improves motoric skills (2) • 4. Music improves speech abilities (1, 3) (3) (1) 1. Patel AD. 2011. Frontiers Psychol. 2, 142: 1-13. 2. Brown J, Sherrill C, Gench B. 1981. Perceptual & Motor Skills 53: 151-154. 3. Schön et al. 2004. Psychophysiol. 41: 341-349.

18. IV. May singing abilities have predisposed to speech? IV.4. Song = dance, speech = gesture: Sound & Movement are flip sides of the same coin(1) Mirror neurons Singing and dancing are intrinsically linked: when humans dance they sing when they sing, they start moving Speech and gesture are intrinsically linked 1. Kenneally C. 2007. The First Word. Penguin Books.

19. IV. May singing abilities have predisposed to speech? Summary 1. Song preceeds speech: * Song in many species, but speech is unique to human species * We have much more phonetic abilities than needed for speech * Speech is a recent phenomenon 2. Song/music/dance are central in human evolution (pair bonding, group bonding) and in present day life 3. Musicality = song/dance, can explain the intrinsic link between speech/gesture two flip sides of the same coin also see! Vocal learning 4. Singing may improve the production of speech: improving vocal dexterity (phonetic abilities) improving breath control laryngeal descent? 5. Most importantly: syntax comprehension: Children can learn whatever random linguistic syntax by listening to the prosodic (melody of speech) clues of language: motherese, early syntactical abilities.

20. V. Semi-aquatic lifestyle may have predisposed to • enlarged brains, voluntary breath control, • improved vocal flexibility, improved song and vocal learning • V.1. Large brains: • Seafood  omega 3 short chain fatty acids enabling SGRAP2 duplications? • V.2. Voluntary breath control: See next talk … • Diving? • Song? • V.3. Vocal dexterity/flexibility: production • Feeding on slippery seafood? • Song? • V.4. Singing:production • Well-developed in many aquatic mammals, not in terrestrial mammals • V.5. Vocal learning: reproduction/mimicking • Such vocal learning plays a crucial role in articulate speech, • helping to generate the large vocabulary required by language (Fitch. 2000) • Not in primates • Very limited in singing primates • Not in terrestrial mammals (exc. elephant) • But in sea mammals and birds: what is the connector between these disjoint groups?? • [V.6. Descended larynx] • For diving? • For feeding on slippery (sea) food? • For song? • Fitch WT. 2000. The evolution of speech: a comparative review. Trends Cogn Sci 4: 258-267.

21. V. May a semi-aquatic lifestyle have predisposed to voluntary breath control, improved vocal dexterity, improved song, and vocal learning, and enlarged brains? V.1. Large brains because of seafood? Gene duplications  bigger, more flexible brain Why this mutation only in our species and not in other primates? Only in our species the right brain food available? Omega 3 Long Chain Fatty Acids from seafood? SRGAP2 gene 3.4 mya 2.4 mya 1.0 mya Geschwind DH, Konopka G. 2012. Nature 486: 481-482. Dennis MY et al. 2012. Cell 149:912–922. Charrier C et al. 2012. Cell 149:923–935.

22. V. May a semi-aquatic lifestyle have predisposed to voluntary breath control, improved vocal dexterity, improved song, and vocal learning, and enlarged brains? V.2. Voluntary breath control V.3. Vocal dexterity/flexibility  Song  Speech production Vocal dexterity: better sound production  song  speech voluntary breath control: rare among terrestrial animals. Common among (semi-)aquatics descended larynx  mouth breathing?  increased flexibility of tongue oral(formant) dexterity: Marc Verhaegen: Feeding on slippery aquatic foods (cfr. walruses?) might explain our flat faces vaulted soft palate closed parabolic tooth row (with small canines) mouth that can be closed by muscled, fleshy, everted lips round globular tongue that can close the airways while feeding Remark: Song itself could have reinforced vocal dexterity, breath control, increased descent of larynx Gorilla Pan Homo

24. V. May a semi-aquatic lifestyle have predisposed to voluntary breath control, improved vocal dexterity, improved song, and vocal learning, and enlarged brains? IV.4. Singing: best developed in birds and aquatic mammals V.5. Vocal learning not in primates. but: in birds and sea mammals. What have these strangely disjoint groups in common?? W. Tecumseh Fitch: “… vocal learning has evolved independently in our species since our divergence with chimpanzees.” (1) “Thus, when it comes to accomplished vocal imitation, humans are members of a strangely disjoint group that includes birds and aquatic mammals, but excludes our nearest relatives, the apes and other primates. (2) 1. Fitch WT. 2006. The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective. Cognition 100: 173-215. 2. Fitch WT. 2000. The evolution of speech: a comparative review. Trends Cogn Sci 4: 258-267.

25. V.5. Vocal learning: reproduction/mimicking: Strong similarities between young birds learning song and infants learning language Humans Birds 1. Listening  2. Rehearsal (auditory feedback)  3. Production Kuhl PK. 2003. PNAS 100: 9645-9646.

26. V.5. Vocal learning: reproduction/mimicking: What have vocal learners in common?? What connects these ‘disjoint’ groups?? BIRDS AIRBORNE MAMMALS Song birds (M, M+F) Bats (M+F) FULL 3 D MOVEMENT VOCAL LEARNING (FoxP2?) Paradise birds (M) + dance Whales (M) Elephants (M+F) Mice (M) Hummingbirds (M?) + backward flight AQUATIC Dolphins (M+F) Sirenians (M) Humans (M+F) Parrots (M+F? Psittaciformes) PAST? FULL 3 D MOVEMENT Pinnipeds (M+F) Gibbons/Siamang (M+F) Several primates Rapid 3-D movement mimicking: air or water Schools of fish Flocks of bird Squids: movement + pigmentation mimicking

27. Elephants: past aquatics? 1. Closest relatives of the Sirenia: manatees, dugongs 2. 3.

28. Summary: a possible screenplay for the origin of language, based on a semi-aquatic past of human ancestors: WATER and the musical abilities of humans: SONG Symbolic speech PROSODY Primate emotional song (gibbon, siamang)  Diving  Full 3-D motion  Vocal learning  Voluntary breath control ? Descended larynx  tongue flexibility  Seafood  Oral musculature  Large brain  Human complex song  Prosodic deciphering MELODY of random syntax  Vocal dexterity Singing abilities in turn may have contributed to increased laryngeal descent increased vocal dexterity improved pitch perception improved voluntary breath control Downloadable at http://users.ugent.be/~mvaneech/Index.html