de Boer Bart
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2017 Feb;24(1):158-162. doi: 10.3758/s13423-016-1130-6.
Speech is the physical signal used to convey spoken language. Because of its physical nature, speech is both easier to compare with other species' behaviors and easier to study in the fossil record than other aspects of language. Here I argue that convergent fossil evidence indicates adaptations for complex vocalizations at least as early as the common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans. Furthermore, I argue that it is unlikely that language evolved separately from speech, but rather that gesture, speech, and song coevolved to provide both a multimodal communication system and a musical system. Moreover, coevolution must also have played a role by allowing both cognitive and anatomical adaptations to language and speech to evolve in parallel. Although such a coevolutionary scenario is complex, it is entirely plausible from a biological point of view.
言语是用于传达口语的物理信号。由于其物理特性，与语言的其他方面相比，言语既更容易与其他物种的行为进行比较，也更容易在化石记录中进行研究。在此我认为，趋同的化石证据表明，至少早在尼安德特人和现代人类的共同祖先时期，就已经出现了对复杂发声的适应性变化。此外，我认为语言不太可能与言语分开进化，而是手势、言语和歌曲共同进化，以提供一个多模态通信系统和一个音乐系统。而且，共同进化也必定通过使对语言和言语的认知及解剖学适应性变化并行发展而发挥了作用。尽管这样的共同进化情景很复杂，但从生物学角度来看却是完全合理的。
