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Functionally Flexible Signaling and the Origin of Language
D Kimbrough Oller1,2,3, Ulrike Griebel1,2,3
1School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States.
Frontiers in Psychology
|February 12, 2021
Summary
Infant vocalizations signaled fitness, driving parental investment and providing a foundation for language evolution in early hominins. This vocal flexibility overcame presumed honesty barriers in communication.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Primatology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Early hominin vocal communication diverged from primate relatives.
- Infant vocalizations may have served as fitness signals beyond distress calls.
- Darwinian theory presents challenges to the evolution of honest communication.
Purpose of the Study:
- Propose vocal fitness signaling as a selection pressure in early hominin infants.
- Investigate the role of exploratory vocalizations in parental investment.
- Address barriers to language evolution, including honesty and costly signaling.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of evolutionary pressures on vocal communication.
- Examination of infant vocalizations as signals of viability.
- Critique of established theories on communication honesty and language evolution.
Main Results:
- Exploratory vocalizations signaled infant wellness, influencing parental investment decisions.
- Vocal flexibility in hominins provided a crucial foundation for language development.
- The presumed honesty barrier to language evolution is challenged by considering language's inherent nature.
Conclusions:
- Infant vocal fitness signaling was a key factor in early hominin evolution.
- Vocal flexibility, not necessarily honesty, was foundational for language.
- Non-honesty-related barriers may explain why only humans evolved language.
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