Emily Ruff

Evolving Communication

Seminar Paper 1

            Graslund and Diamond have very similar takes on the evolution of human language. Both acknowledge the dawn of innovation to be entirely dependent on the development of human speech, allowing for specific knowledge to be passed between individuals providing greater success for the species. Both also acknowledge the development of language to be dependent on anatomical advantages present in human beings but restricted in other primates.

            As Graslund says on page 113, the creation of sophisticated tools requires more complex communication between individuals than simple demonstration and replication could provide.  Diamond makes a distinction between the tool making capabilities between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon humans. Whereas Neanderthals had simple stone tools without blade-like edges or handles, Cro-Magnons had sophisticated tools, and engaged successfully in communal hunting; implying that they had a sufficiently complex language to communicate the details of tool creation and to coordinate the hunt (Diamond 47).

            The turning point in the evolution of language is regarded by both Graslund and Diamond to be a change in anatomical structure. Chimpanzees and other apes do not have a structure of the mouth and larynx that allows for distinct enunciation of sound. On page 54, Diamond claims that the tiny genetic difference between apes and humans that makes humans capable of articulated speech is this specific difference in anatomy. Graslund agrees, adding that he believes other primates to have a similar capacity for language, only they are not able to express communication through verbalization because of their anatomical limitations (116). “Bipedalism is the mother of human speech,” claims Graslund on page 117. Diamond agrees this is the second feature of human anatomy that led to the development of spoken language. He asserts that becoming bipedal freed early man’s hands for the development of tools (34), which both agree is linked to complex speech.

            Humans evolved in an unusual way: becoming less strong, more susceptible to the elements, and having offspring that are dependent for many years. These features, which appear to be disadvantages, must have either developed as a result of spoken language, or  language developed to compensate for these shortcomings. Regardless, in reading both Graslund and Diamond, it seems that the success of the modern human form is intricately entwined with complex human language.