Understanding Language Evolution: Beyond Pan-Centrism.
Bioessays
; 42(3): e1900102, 2020 03.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31994246
Language does not fossilize but this does not mean that the language's evolutionary timeline is lost forever. Great apes provide a window back in time on our last prelinguistic ancestor's communication and cognition. Phylogeny and cladistics implicitly conjure Pan (chimpanzees, bonobos) as a superior (often the only) model for language evolution compared with earlier diverging lineages, Gorilla and Pongo (orangutans). Here, in reviewing the literature, it is shown that Pan do not surpass other great apes along genetic, cognitive, ecologic, or vocal traits that are putatively paramount for language onset and evolution. Instead, revived herein is the idea that only by abandoning single-species models and learning about the variation among great apes, there might be a chance to retrieve lost fragments of the evolutionary timeline of language.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Pongo pygmaeus
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Pan troglodytes
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Pan paniscus
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Gorilla gorilla
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Lenguaje
Límite:
Animals
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Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Bioessays
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos