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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.it http://www.univda.it/lentiboerodaniela
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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.

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

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