Evolving Communication

Ry Ellingson

If Jared Diamond and Bo Graslund sat down and had a lengthy discussion about the evolution of language they would immediately agree on one thing. The origins of language are as shrouded in mystery as the origins of human kind itself. Diamond even goes so far as to wish for time travel, “I often dreamt of a time machine that would let me place tape recorders in ancient Hominid camps.” (pg.142)

These two men are obviously well versed in this veiled topic, and due to its theoretical nature, they would more than likely have plenty to discuss. Diamond tends to take a more contemporary view in the study of the evolution of language in that he discusses animals and their uses of communication more than Graslund. I found his tales of vervets using different calls for leopards, hawks, and snakes fascinating. Their use of a basic language was really brought to light by his claims that they react differently to all of these calls. I found it particularly amusing that when a vervet sees that his troop is losing in a skirmish he may use the leopard call to send both sides scurrying for safety. “Vervets occasionally give the “leopard call” when no leopard is present but when their troop is fighting with another troop and losing the fight. The fake alarm sends all combatants scrambling for the nearest tree and thereby serves as a deceptive “time-out”.” (pg.147) Grauslund tends to look to the past to cure his queries about language evolution. “…up to half a million years ago early archaic sapiens had fulfilled all the anatomical requirements for modern articulated speech and that this communication might have approached that of our own.

Needless to say I enjoyed Diamond’s methods more than Graslund’s, however I feel that they have a common foundation that links their two writings: the belief that language evolved from a simple form with limited possibilities to a broad, advanced system with near infinite possibilities for expression and creativity.