Department of Comparative Cognition, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland.
School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.
Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci. 2015 May-Jun;6(3):313-21. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1338. Epub 2015 Jan 28.
Linguists interested in language evolution tend to focus on combinatorial features and rightly point out the lack of comparable evidence in animal communication. However, human language is based on various unique capacities, such as a motor capacity of sophisticated vocal control and a cognitive capacity of acting on others' psychological states. These features are only present in very rudimentary forms in non-human primates, suggesting they have evolved more recently in the human lineage. Here, the evidence from recent fieldwork for precursors of these abilities is reviewed, notably sequence-based semantic communication, vocal tract control, and audience awareness. Overall, there is evidence for both continuity and discontinuity when comparing modern primate and human communication, suggesting that the origin of language is the result of multiple gradual transitions from earlier forms of primate-like communication and social cognition, rather than a sudden and fundamental redesign in ancestral human communication and cognition.
语言进化领域的语言学家往往专注于组合特征，并正确地指出动物交流中缺乏可比的证据。然而，人类语言基于各种独特的能力，例如复杂的发声控制的运动能力和对他人心理状态的认知能力。这些特征在非人类灵长类动物中仅以非常原始的形式存在，这表明它们在人类世系中最近才进化而来。在这里，回顾了最近实地工作中关于这些能力前体的证据，特别是基于序列的语义交流、声道控制和受众意识。总的来说，在比较现代灵长类动物和人类的交流时，既存在连续性也存在不连续性的证据，这表明语言的起源是从早期类人猿的交流和社会认知形式逐渐演变而来的多次转变的结果，而不是在人类祖先的交流和认知中突然发生的根本重新设计。
