From Primate Communication to Human Language: Anthropological & Philosophical Speculations
Vol.6,No.1(2015)
Spoken language has left no direct empirical traces in human evolution; the origin and early history of communication in humans has been left open for interpretation. Language provides a means for reflection that is limitless in space and time, and it is a unique system that promotes endless creativity. In order for a proper analysis of language, researchers must find universals shared by all forms of communication. Through the insights gained in decoding primate communication systems, this article covers those studies that have tested the potentialities of comprehension in the great apes. A set of events caused a shift from animal communication systems to human symbolic languages. In this anthropological and evolutionary context, early hominids utilized and developed ever-more complex language for adaptation and reproduction.
communication; evolution; language; niche construction; optimal foraging; primates; proto-language
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