EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE
INTERSPECIES ANIMAL LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION
EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE SHOWS THE ROOTS OF LANGUAGE
INTERSPECIES LANGUAGE EVOLUTION: The Language of Whales, Dolphins, Elephants, Birds, Apes, Bees, Bonobo, Gorilla, Monkey and Chimp.
Some species like bees use dance, while other species scream, bark, roar, click, whistle, sing, and gesture. Humans evolved to do all of that.
- Hear Piraha -sung speech
- Hear the Human SILBO Whistle Language.
CLICK LANGUAGES
CLICKS: Ancient Roots for an African Language?
'First language may have used clicks' October 2001
http://www.ananova.com/
Two scientists say a genetic study suggests the world's first language may have used clicks. Still found in parts of Africa, Click Languages rely on distinctive clicking sounds made by the tongue to form words. The US researchers say their study shows existing click speakers are genetically diverse, meaning their languages may be older than others. Click languages are still found in the Hadza tribe of Tanzania and the San groups of Botswana and Namibia.
WHISTLING LANGUAGES
Human SILBO Whistle Language. Human Whistling Languages source
spoken on La Gomera, one of Spain's Canary Islands off West Africa. The word comes from Spanish verb silbar, meaning to whistle -- features four "vowels" and four "consonants" that can be strung together to form more than 4,000 words. It sounds just like bird conversation. Translation:
"Hey, Servando!"
"What?"
"Look, go tell Julio to bring the castanets."
"OK. Hey, Julio!"
"What?"
"Lili says you should go get the kids and have them bring the castanets for the party."
"OK, OK, OK."
Hear Mexican Whistler by Roger Whitaker
Warbling Whales Speak A Language All Their Own
- Hear: WHALE Whistle
- Dolphins Name Themselves With Whistles, Study Says James Owen May 8, 2006
Dolphins give themselves "names"distinctive whistles that they use to identify each other, new research shows. Scientists say it's the first time wild animals have been shown to call out their own names. What's more, the
marine mammals can recognize individual names even when the sound is produced by an unfamiliar voice. - Whales can love - Researchers in New York have found that various types of whales possess the same emotion-producing brain cells as humans
- Humpback Whale Chorus, recorded in a long, narrow channel that amplified and attenuated their calls in a most wonderful way
Why do Children Sing?
Many animals, he argues, have evolved to squeeze their vocalizations into available niches of the soundscape in order to be heard by others of their kind. Evolution isnt just about the competition for space or food but also for bandwidth. If a species cannot find a sonic niche of its own, it will not survive.
Hear Children Singing - The voices of children along with nearby birds.
Further Reading and Resources
Language indicates Culture. This also involves Intelligence, Emotion and Compassion
- EVOLUTION OF HUMAN LANGUAGE ~ Karen Ellis
- LANGUAGE IS MUSIC TO THE BRAIN
- How the SONGS OF NATIONS evolved.
- Humans in cultures that speak TONAL LANGUAGES have PERFECT PITCH. HUMANS ARE BORN WITH PERFECT PITCH - USE IT OR LOSE IT
- Interdisciplinary connections between Language, Music, Evolution, & Reading
- Rhythmic patterns underlie the human language
- Origin of Human Vocal Behavior: An Anatomical consideration
- Interdisciplinary Social Rhythm Researchers How music strikes a chord with language.
GESTURE
Humans still Gesture all the time , the nongramatical expressive movements we all make [shrugging shoulders, waving good-bye, brandishing a fist. Hands are the beginnings of language.
Biophony, Bernie Krause has theorized, is unique to each place; nowhere in nature sounds exactly like anywhere else. This idea has led him toward a controversial way of thinking that would broaden the scope of todays evolutionary biology. Many animals, he argues, have evolved to squeeze their vocalizations into available niches of the soundscape in order to be heard by others of their kind. Evolution isn't just about the competition for space or food but also for bandwidth.
