Mice, Monkeys, and Muttering

This week a few more tantalizing clues about the origin of language popped up. I blogged here and here about a fierce debate over the evolution of language. No other species communicates quite the way humans do, with a system of sounds, words, and grammar that allows us to convey an infinite number of ideas. While particular languages are the products of different cultures, the basic capacity for language appears to be built into our species. Some scientists argue that language is primarily the product of natural selection working within the hominid lineage over the past few million years. Others suggest (argue might be too strong a word) that a lot of the components of language may have already been in place before our ancestors parted evolutionary ways with other apes. That would leave natural selection with a relatively small role in giving rise to human language. Debates in evolutionary ...