The evolution of language: a comparative review

For many years the evolution of language has been seen as a disreputable topic, mired in fanciful "just so stories" about language origins. However, in the last decade a new synthesis of modern linguistics, cognitive neuroscience and neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory has begun to make important contributions to our understanding of the biology and evolution of language. I review some of this recent progress, focusing on the value of the comparative method, which uses data from animal species to draw inferences about language evolution. Discussing speech first, I show how data concerning a wide variety of species, from monkeys to birds, can increase our understanding of the anatomical and neural mechanisms underlying human spoken language, and how bird and whale song provide insights into the ultimate evolutionary function of language. I discuss the ‘‘descended larynx’ ’ of humans, a peculiar adaptation for speech that has received much attention in the past, which despite earlier claims is not uniquely human. Then I will turn to the neural mechanisms underlying spoken language, pointing out the difficulties animals apparently experience in perceiving hierarchical structure in sounds, and stressing the importance of vocal imitation in the evolution of a spoken language. Turning to ultimate function, I suggest that communication among kin (especially between parents and offspring) played a crucial but neglected role in driving language evolution. Finally, I briefly discuss phylogeny, discussing hypotheses that offer plausible routes to human language from a non-linguistic chimp-like ancestor. I conclude that comparative data from living animals will be key to developing a richer, more interdisciplinary understanding of our most distinctively human trait: language

¿Puede un antropoide generar una oración?

More than 19000 expressions of various signs, produced by Nim, a Jung chimpanzee, were analysed, searching syntactic and semantic regularities. Lexicon regularities were observed in cases of two sign combination: specific signs (for instance, more), tended to appear in a concrete position. This regularities were not attributable to memorization or position habits, which suggests a structural restriction. This conclusion was nevertheless rejected when the video recording was analysed; it showed that most of Nim�s expressions were supported by the previous expression of the trainer and that Nim interrupted his teachers much more the a child does adults. Sign expressions from other anthropoids (as movies show), revealed similar guidelines of non human dialogue.Se analizaron más de 19.000 locuciones de varios signos de un chimpancé de corta edad (Nim), en busca de regularidades sintácticas y de semánticas. Las regularidades léxicas se observaron en el caso de las combinaciones de dos signos: determinados signos (por ejemplo, más) tendían a aparecer en una posición concreta. Estas regularidades no podían atribuirse a la memorización o a los hábitos de posición, se rechazó al analizar la grabación video, que mostraba cómo la mayoría de las locuciones de Nim se apoyaban en la locución anterior de su maestro, y que Nim interrumpía a sus maestros mucho más que un niño el lenguaje del adulto. Las expresiones de signos de otros antropoides (como muestran las películas) revelaban pautas similares de diálogo no human

A evolução do conceito de operante

O conceito de operante surge nos anos 30 como necessidade, dada a dificuldade encontrada por Skinner para analisar seus dados usando como ferramenta o conceito de reflexo. O presente trabalho apresenta a evolução do conceito até o presente, quando a unidade de análise não tem mais a ver com a estrutura do comportamento: a nova ferramenta é o conceito de contingência tríplice