1. Evolution of Spoken Language

2.  From the fossil record alone, it is incredibly difficult to
find which of our ancestors first used spoken word.
 There are many factors that contribute to speech,
including anatomy of the face, vocal tract, innervation
of the diaphragm and tongue, and specific areas of the
brain, as well as genes.
 Due to the lack of soft tissue in the fossil record, it is
hard to tell whether or not some of the features were
present. However, some clues of the soft tissues’
presence still remain.

3.  Broca’s and Wernicke’s Area
 Structure of the larynx and pharynx
 Hypoglossal nerve
 Diaphragm innervation (to control breathing needed
for speech)

4.  Two sections of the supralaryngeal vocal tract: SVT
H (horizontal) and SVTV (vertical)
 In adult humans the two portions of the vocal tract
form a right angle to one another, and are almost
equal in length.
 Because of the 1:1 proportion, tongue movements
cause diameter changes needed to produce
quantal vowels( [i], [u] ).
 Without a 1:1 SVT, a full range of human speech
would not be possible.

5. Human vs Chimpanzee: length of SVT

6. (a) a Neanderthal dating to about 70,000 years ago
(b) a 100,000 year-old early modern human
(c) a 26,000-year-old modern human from the Upper Paleolithic
“For the Neanderthal and the early modern human, their short necks and long faces would
position the larynx in the chest cavity, rather than their neck. This suggests that they most
likely possessed SVTs in which the horizontal portion was considerably longer than the
vertical portion, indicating neither would have been capable of producing the full range of
speech sounds available to humans today.
The head and neck of the Upper Paleolithic human, however, can accommodate a 1:1 SVT
showing us that by this date our ancestors were probably capable of fully modern speech.”

7.  The hypoglossal nerve
innervates the tongue,
producing articulate
speech.
 The diaphragm gives fine
control over breathing,
which is needed for
speech.
 The size of the nerve can
partly be determined by
a cross-section area of
the spinal cord in the
thorax region.
Hypoglossal Nerve Innervation of Diaphragm

8. Broca’s Area
 Associated with
producing language
 Signs of Broca’s Area
have been in Homo
rudolfensis and later
Homo
 Associated with
processing language that
we hear
Wernicke’s Area

9.  The gene called FOX P2 is the first gene to be linked to
language and speech, although it is not the only gene
involved.
 The FOX P2 gene has undergone two mutation since
the split between chimpanzee and hominin lines.
 A modern form of the gene has been found in the
DNA of a Neanderthal fossil, although there is some
speculation it may have been due to contamination or
gene flow between Neanderthals and humans.

10.  Dr. Jeffrey Laitman
 David Frayer
 Ann McLarnon
 Philip Lieberman
 Robert McCarthy
 Michael Corballis

11.  Dr. Jeffery Laitman’s main
arguments are:
1. That the vocal tract in
Neanderthals would still have
been too underdeveloped to
have the language capacity
2. The new reconstruction
may not have been any better
than the previous
 3. The hyoid bone is
insufficient evidence for the
overall shape of the vocal
tract
 David Frayer’s arguments are:
1. after a new reconstruction
of Neanderthal remains there
is more flexion in the
basicranium than had been
assumed
2. the basicranial flexion falls
within a normal range for
other Mesolithic and Upper
Paleolithic Europeans

12.  The hyoid bone is a U shaped bone that lies between
the root of the tongue and the larynx. It is connected
to muscles of the tongue, larynx, and jaw.
 The hyoid’s importance is that it helps to support the
tongue and elevate the larynx during swallowing or
talking.
 “In 1989, a team of researchers found a hyoid bone
from a partial Neanderthal Skeleton at Kebara…in size
and shape the Kebara hyoid is virtually identical to the
modern hyoid.”

13. Simulation of Neanderthal Voice Letter e
Dr. Robert McCarthy has recently
reconstructed vocal tracts to simulate what
a Neanderthal would sound like
pronouncing the letter “e.” Due to the
proportion of their SVT, and therefore lack
of quantal vowels, it sounds very unlike our
own.

14. Structure of
Speech
Apparatus
Hypoglossal
Nerve
Innervati
on of
Diaphrag
m
Broca’s
Area
FOX P2
(modern
mutation)
Australopiths Not fully
modern
Smaller smaller Not found
“archaic” Homo
sapiens
Fully
modern, 1:1
Modern Much
smaller
Yes
Neanderthal Longer
horizontal
than vertical
SVT
Modern Modern
proportio
ns
Yes Yes –
although
there is some
disagreemen
t
A.M. H. sapiens 1:1 Modern Modern
proportio
ns
Yes yes

15.  It is difficult to tell from the fossil record alone who
was the first to use speech in a similar way to us.
 There are many factors involved, some hard to tell
without the remains of soft tissue.
 Although there is debate about Neanderthal speech,
we can pretty safely assume that at least anatomically
modern humans used speech.