Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T18:38:32.768Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early human communication helps in understanding language evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

Daniela Lenti Boero
Daniela Lenti Boero*
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Human Sciences, University of Valle d'Aosta, 11010 Aosta, Italy. d.lentiboero@univda.ithttp://www.univda.it/lentiboerodaniela
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Building a theory on extant species, as Ackermann et al. do, is a useful contribution to the field of language evolution. Here, I add another living model that might be of interest: human language ontogeny in the first year of life. A better knowledge of this phase might help in understanding two more topics among the “several building blocks of a comprehensive theory of the evolution of spoken language” indicated in their conclusion by Ackermann et al., that is, the foundation of the co-evolution of linguistic motor skills with the auditory skills underlying speech perception, and the possible phylogenetic interactions of protospeech production with referential capabilities.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 560 - 561
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, C. L., Molfese, D. L. & Betz, J. C. (1987) Electrophysiological correlates of categorical speech perception for voicing contrasts in dogs. Developmental Neuropsychology 3(3–4):175–89.Google Scholar
Banse, R. & Scherer, K. R. (1996) Acoustic profiles in vocal emotion expression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70(3):614–36.Google Scholar
Bottoni, L., Masin, S. & Lenti Boero, D. (2009) Vowel-like sound structure in an African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) vocal production. The Open Behavioral Science Journal 3:1–16.Google Scholar
Cismaresco, A. S. & Montagner, H. (1990) Mother's discrimination of their neonates' cry in relation to cry acoustics: The first week of life. Early Child Development and Care 65:3–13.Google Scholar
Clarkson, M. G. & Berg, W. K. (1983) Cardiac orienting and vowel discrimination in newborns: Crucial stimulus parameters. Child Development 54:162–71.Google Scholar
Davis, B. L. & MacNeilage, P. F. (2002) The internal structure of the syllable. In: The evolution of language out of pre-language, ed. Givòn, T. & Malle, B. F., pp. 135–54. John Benjamins.Google Scholar
de Boysson-Bardie, B. (2001) How language comes to children. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Dewson, J. H. (1964) Speech sound discrimination by cats. Science 144:555–56.Google Scholar
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1993) Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16:681–94.Google Scholar
Eimas, P. D., Siqueland, E. R., Jusczyk, P. & Vigorito, J. (1971) Speech perception in infants. Science 171:303–306.Google Scholar
Frodi, A. (1985) When empathy fails: Aversive infant crying and child abuse. In: Infant crying: Theoretical and research perspective, ed. Lester, B. M. & Boukydis, C. F. Z., pp. 263–78. Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Frodi, A. & Senchack, M. (1990) Verbal and behavioral responsiveness to the cries of atypical infants. Child Development 61:76–84.Google Scholar
Gustafson, G. E., Wood, R. M. & Green, J. A. (2000) Can we hear the causes of infants' crying? In: Crying as a sign, a symptom, and a signal: Clinical, emotional and developmental aspects of infant and toddler crying, ed. Barr, R. G., Hopkins, B. & Green, J. A., pp. 8–22. Mac Keith Press/Wiley.Google Scholar
Hogan, J. A. (1988) Cause and function in the development of behavior systems. In: Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology, vol. 9: Developmental psychobiology and behavioral ecology, ed. Blass, E. M., pp. 63–106. Plenum.Google Scholar
Jürgens, U. & Ploog, D. (1988) On the motor control of monkey calls. In: The physiological control of mammalian vocalization, ed. Newman, J. D., pp. 7–19. Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Kisilevsky, B. S., Hains, S. M. J., Jacquet, A.-Y., Granier-Deferre, D. & Lecanuet, J. P. (2004) Maturation of fetal responses to music. Developmental Science 7(5):550–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kluender, K. R., Diehl, R. L. & Killeen, P. R. (1987) Japanese quail can learn phonetic categories. Science 237:1195–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuhl, P. K. & Miller, J. D. (1975) Speech perception by chinchilla: Voiced voiceless distinction in alveolar plosive consonants. Science 190:69–72.Google Scholar
Lenti Boero, D. (1992) Alarm calls in marmots: Evidence for semantic communication. Ethology, Ecology, Evolution 4(2):125–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lenti Boero, D. (2009) Neurofunctional spectrographic analysis of the cry of brain injured asphyxiated infants: A physioacoustic and clinical study. In: Models and analysis of vocal emissions for biomedical applications, ed. Manfredi, C., pp. 3–6, Università di Firenze-Firenze University Press.Google Scholar
Lenti Boero, D. & Bottoni, L. (2006) From crying to words: Unique or multilevel selective pressures? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29(3):292–93.Google Scholar
Lenti Boero, D. & Bottoni, L. (2009) Contrasting early cry and early babbling: Results from a pilot study. In: Book of Abstracts, pp. 25–27. University of Torun. Available at: http://www.protolang.umk.pl/2009/public/files/book_of_abstracts.pdf Google Scholar
Lenti Boero, D., Miraglia, S. Ortalda, F. Nuti, G. Bottoni, L. & Lenti, C. (2008) Biomusicological approach in infant cry listening. In: Musical Development and Learning: Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Developmental Psychology of Music, Roehampton University, England, 10–12 September, 2008, ed. Daubney, A., Longhi, E., Lamont, A. & Hargreaves, D., pp. 162–65. GK Publishing, Hull. (ISBN: 978-0-9553329-1-3).Google Scholar
Lenti Boero, D., Volpe, C., Marcello, A., Bianchi, C. & Lenti, C. (1998) Newborns crying in different situational contexts: Discrete or graded signals? Perceptual and Motor Skills 86:1123–40.Google Scholar
Lester, B. M. & Boukydis, C. F. Z. (1992) No language but a cry. In: Nonverbal vocal communication. Comparative and developmental approaches, ed. Papoušek, H., Jurgens, U. & Papoušek, M., pp. 145–73. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Levitzky, S. & Cooper, R. (2000) Infant colic syndrome maternal fantasies of aggression and infanticide. Clinical Pediatrics 39(7):395–400.Google Scholar
Lieberman, P., Harris, K. S. & Wolff, P. (1968) Newborn infant cry in relation to nonhuman primate vocalizations. Journal of Acoustic Society of America A 44:365.Google Scholar
Lieberman, P., Harris, K. S., Wolff, P. & Russel, L. H. (1971) Newborn infant cry and nonhuman primate vocalization. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 14:718–27.Google Scholar
Locke, J. L. (2006) Parental selection of vocal behavior. Crying, cooing, babbling, and the evolution of language. Human Nature 17(2):155–68.Google Scholar
Locke, J. L. & Bogin, B. (2006) Language and life history: A new perspective on the development and evolution of human language. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29(3):301–11.Google Scholar
Mampe, B., Friederici, A. D., Christophe, A. & Wermke, K. (2009) Newborns' cry melody is shaped by their native language. Current Biology 19:1994–97.Google Scholar
Mehler, J., Juskzyc, P., Lamberz, G., Halsted, N., Bertoncini, J. & Amiel-Tison, C. (1988) A precursor of language acquisition in young infants. Cognition 29:143–78.Google Scholar
Miller, J. D. (1977) Perception of speech sounds in animals: evidence for speech processing by mammalian auditory mechanisms. In: Dahlem Workshop on Recognition of Complex Acoustic Signals. Life Sciences Report, vol. 5, ed. Bullock, T., pp. 49–58. Abakon.Google Scholar
Morse, P. A. & Snowdon, C. T. (1975) An investigation of categorical speech discrimination by rhesus monkeys. Perception and Psychophysics 17:9–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oller, D. K. (2000) The emergence of the speech capacity. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Papoušek, M. & Papoušek, H. (1981) Musical elements in the infant's vocalization: Their significance for communication, cognition, and creativity. In: Advances in infancy research, vol. 1, ed. Lipsitt, L. P., pp. 163–224. Ablex.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (2007) Grey parrots do not always “parrot”: The roles of imitation and phonological awareness in the creation of new labels from existing vocalizations. Language Science 29:1–13.Google Scholar
Rasa, O. A. E. (1986) Coordinated vigilance in dwarf mongoose family groups: The “watchman's song” hypothesis and the costs of guarding. Ethology 71(4):340–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rocca, F. & Lenti Boero, D. (2005) Sex differences in human infant cry: A comparative view. In: Abstracts of the XXIX International Ethological Conference, ed. Sàndor, R., p. 131. Késult a Codex Print Nyondàbam, Budapest.Google Scholar
Ruzza, B., Rocca, F., Lenti Boero, D. & Lenti, C. (2003) Investigating the musical qualities of early infant sounds. In: The neurosciences and music, ed. Avanzini, G., Faienza, C., Minciacchi, D., Lopez, L. & Majno, L., pp. 527–29. New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Seyfarth, R. M. & Cheney, D. L. (1980) Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: Evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science 210:801–803.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teinonen, T., Fellman, V., Näätänen, R., Alku, P. & Huotilainen, M. (2009) Statistical language learning in neonates revealed by event-related brain potentials. BMC Neuroscience 10:21. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-10-21.Google Scholar
Tervaniemi, M. & Huotilainen, M. (2003) The promises of change-related brain potentials in cognitive neuro science of music. In: The neurosciences and music, ed. Avanzini, G., Faienza, C., Minciacchi, D., Lopez, L. & Majno, L., pp. 29–39. New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Vorperian, H. K. & Kent, R. D. (2007) Vowel acoustic space development in children: A synthesis of acoustic and anatomic data. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research 50(6):1510–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vorperian, H. K., Wang, S., Chung, M. K., Schimek, E. M., Durtschi, R. B., Kent, R. D., Ziegert, A. J. & Gentry, L. R. (2009) Anatomic development of the oral and pharyngeal portions of the vocal tract: An imaging study. Journal of Acoustic Society of America 125:1666–78.Google Scholar
Winkler, I., Kushnerenko, E., Horvath, J., Ceponiené, R., Fellman, V., Huotilainen, M., Näätänen, R. & Sussman, E. (2003) Newborn infants can organize the auditory world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 100(2):11812–15.Google Scholar
Zuberbühler, K. (2000b) Referential labelling in Diana monkeys. Animal Behaviour 59(5):917–27.Google Scholar