How did language evolve in the lineage of higher primates?

2021/09/16 by Dieter Hillert · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Language and cultural evolution #Action Observation and Synchronization #Categorization, perception, and language

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2021.103158

openalex publication_date 2021/09/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02

Abstract

Speech components emerged in the hominin lineage before the rise of modern human behavior and were already in place in monkey species. Evidence from genetics to archaeological records points to an accumulative increase of those computational properties required for modern language. At about 2.4 mya, the polytypical species Homo erectus sensu lato (s.l.) appeared with significant cortical growth indicated by neural migration factors and fossil skulls. The evidence suggests that early Homo erectus s.l. was equipped with a computational capacity for premodern language. The same species developed Acheulean toolmaking and showed signs of a symbolic and aesthetic mind at about half a mya. We conclude that the modern language capacity evolved at around 1 mya in the merging species late Homo erectus s.l. and pre-archaic Homo sapiens.

Citations

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Cited by

• Dieter Hillert [wikipedia]