Gentilucci Maurizio, Corballis Michael C
Department of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma I-43100, Italy.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2006;30(7):949-60. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.02.004. Epub 2006 Apr 18.
There are a number of reasons to suppose that language evolved from manual gestures. We review evidence that the transition from primarily manual to primarily vocal language was a gradual process, and is best understood if it is supposed that speech itself a gestural system rather than an acoustic system, an idea captured by the motor theory of speech perception and articulatory phonology. Studies of primate premotor cortex, and, in particular, of the so-called "mirror system" suggest a double hand/mouth command system that may have evolved initially in the context of ingestion, and later formed a platform for combined manual and vocal communication. In humans, speech is typically accompanied by manual gesture, speech production itself is influenced by executing or observing hand movements, and manual actions also play an important role in the development of speech, from the babbling stage onwards. The final stage at which speech became relatively autonomous may have occurred late in hominid evolution, perhaps with a mutation of the FOXP2 gene around 100,000 years ago.
有许多理由认为语言是从手势演变而来的。我们回顾了相关证据，即从主要依靠手势到主要依靠语音的转变是一个渐进的过程，并且如果假设言语本身是一个手势系统而非声学系统，那么这一过程最容易理解，这一观点体现在言语感知的运动理论和发音音系学中。对灵长类动物运动前区皮质，尤其是所谓“镜像系统”的研究表明，存在一种双手/口部双重指令系统，该系统最初可能是在进食过程中演化而来，后来形成了手势与语音结合交流的平台。在人类中，言语通常伴随着手势，言语产生本身会受到执行或观察手部动作的影响，而且从咿呀学语阶段开始，手部动作在言语发展中也起着重要作用。言语变得相对自主的最后阶段可能发生在人类进化的后期，也许是在大约10万年前FOXP2基因发生突变之时。
