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Hominids may have had vocal capabilities like modern humans
Associated Press, 04/27/98 17:00
WASHINGTON (AP) - Primitive human-like species may have had the
physical ability to speak some 300,000 years ago, long before the
evolution of modern humans, new research suggests.
Scientists at Duke University say the skulls of Neanderthals and of
some other primitive higher primates show they may have had the nerve
complex needed to control the subtle and varied movement of the tongue
required for speech.
Matt Cartmill of Duke, co-author of a study to be published Tuesday in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the bony
canal carrying a nerve connection between the brain and the tongue is
about the same size in the Neanderthal and early humans as it is in
modern humans.
The nerve tunnel, called the hypoglossal canal, is smaller, however in
apes, which are incapable of complex speech, said Cartmill. The
hypoglossal canal also is ape-sized in the skulls of Australopithecus,
the primitives that could possibly have been the ancestors of early
humans.
The nerve that goes through the hypoglossal canal controls virtually
all the voluntary muscles in the tongue. Without such control, the
tongue cannot perform the intricate and varied motions necessary to
form the subtle sounds that constitute spoken words.
Researchers have long believed that the ability to make modern human
speech sounds did not evolve until about 40,000 years ago. The
Neanderthal, whose remains have been found in Europe and Asia, evolved
about 300,000 years ago. Modern humans came along later but may have
lived at the same time and place as the final generations of the
Neanderthal.
The two species differ in the shape and the size of the skull and
skeleton. It is not clear if modern humans replaced the Neanderthal or
if there was interbreeding between the two distinct species.
``If the size of that (hypoglossal) canal reflects the size of the
nerve, and if the size of the nerve reflects the amount of
coordination and control of the tongue, then the Neanderthal had a
degree of control of the tongue resembling modern humans,'' Cartmill
said in an interview. ``Early hominids and apes did not. When we look
at chimps and gorillas and early humans in Africa, they have much
smaller canals.''
Bernard Wood, the Henry R. Luce professor of human origins at George
Washington University, said the Duke research ``is an intriguing new
line of evidence'' about the speech abilities of the Neanderthal and
of other primitive humanlike species.
The fact that the hypoglossal canal in the Neanderthal is about like
that of modern humans means that ``it is a reasonable supposition''
that the Neanderthal may have been capable of speech.
However, Wood said the case cannot be proved until there is more
research about the size of the tongue and the oral cavity of the
Neanderthal. These body structures also are important to speech, he
said.
``They haven't proven the case yet,'' said Wood, but he said the
research was an important step.
Some researchers have concluded that the Neanderthal lacked the
ability to speak because fossils from the species show that the voice
box may have been higher in the neck and that the tongue may have been
bigger than in modern humans.
Cartmill said his team's findings suggest this may not be the case.
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Wade T. Smith
morbius@channel1.com | "There ain't nothin' you
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