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Evolution of Hearing and Language in Fossil Hominins

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Primate Hearing and Communication

Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 63))

Abstract

This chapter outlines the evolution of auditory capacities during the course of human evolution and the implications for understanding when human language may have evolved. These findings are considered within the context of habitat acoustics, the mathematical theory of communication, and the frame/content theory of speech production. Compared to chimpanzees, the auditory pattern in the early hominin taxa Australopithecus and Paranthropus show a heightened sensitivity between 1.0 and 3.5 kHz but a similarly narrow bandwidth of maximum sensitivity. The early hominin auditory pattern may have facilitated short-range communication in open habitats, but their communication pattern apparently did not involve transmission of information beyond that of a chimpanzee. The early hominins likely were restricted to the frame stage of speech production, a phoneme-based, presyntactic form of communication with only limited word formation. In contrast, the Middle Pleistocene Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos (SH) hominins resemble H. sapiens in showing a broad region of heightened sensitivity between 1 and 5 kHz and a wider bandwidth of maximum sensitivity that is extended toward higher frequencies. The wider bandwidth in the Atapuerca (SH) hominins facilitated specialization in the use of complex, short-range vocal communication, including an emphasis on high-frequency consonant production and increased word formation. The Atapuerca (SH) hominins, then, may have been on the threshold of passing into the frame/content stage of speech production. The evolution of auditory capacities is consistent with the presence of some form of spoken language in the genus Homo prior to the appearance of H. sapiens.

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Acknowledgments

Rolf Quam, Ignacio Martínez, and Manuel Rosa form part of the Evolutionary Bioacoustics and Paleoanthropology Research Group at the Universidad de Alcalá. The authors thank C. Lorenzo, A. Bonmatí, and P. Jarabo for their valuable contributions to the present work. The following individuals and institutions provided access to the fossil and extant specimens housed under their care: J.M. Carretero (Universidad de Burgos, Spain); Y. Haile-Selassie, B. Latimer, and L. Jellema (Cleveland Museum of Natural History, USA); J. Cabot (Estación Biológica Doñana, Spain); F. Thackeray and S. Potze (Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, South Africa); P.V. Tobias, B. Zipfel, and M. Raath (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa). CT scanning of the early hominin specimens was carried out by D. De Ruiter, J. Moggi-Cecchi, and C. Menter. CT scanning of the H. sapiens and chimpanzee specimens was carried out at the Laboratorio de Evolucion Humana of the Universidad de Burgos (Spain) and the Cleveland Clinic (USA). B. Tatchell analyzed the CT scans and made the virtual reconstructions for a number of specimens in the present study. The authors thank the Atapuerca Research and Excavation Team for their work in the field, especially at the Sima de los Huesos site. The excavations at the Atapuerca sites are funded by the Junta de Castilla y León. Partial financial support for this project has been provided by the Leakey Foundation, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), Binghamton University (SUNY), the Junta de Castilla y León (project nos. BU032A06 and BU005A09), and the Spanish Ministry of Economía y Competitividad (project nos. CGL2009-12703-C03-03/02, CGL2012-38434-C03-01, and CGL2015-65387-C3-2-P-MINECO/FEDER).

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Rolf Quam, Ignacio Martínez, Manuel Rosa, and Juan Luis Arsuaga declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY, 13902-6000, USA

    Rolf M. Quam

  2. Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Edificio de Ciencias, Campus Universitario, Alcalá de Henares, 28805, Spain

    Ignacio Martínez

  3. Departamento de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones, Universidad de Alcalá, Escuela Politécnica, Campus Universitario, Alcalá de Henares, 28871, Spain

    Manuel Rosa

  4. Centro de Investigación (UCM-ISCIII) sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Avda. Monforte de Lemos 5, Madrid, 28029, Spain

    Juan Luis Arsuaga

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  1. Rolf M. Quam
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Correspondence to Rolf M. Quam .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA

    Rolf M. Quam

  2. Department of Anthropology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, USA

    Marissa A. Ramsier

  3. Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Richard R. Fay

  4. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

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Quam, R.M., Martínez, I., Rosa, M., Arsuaga, J.L. (2017). Evolution of Hearing and Language in Fossil Hominins. In: Quam, R., Ramsier, M., Fay, R., Popper, A. (eds) Primate Hearing and Communication. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 63. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59478-1_8

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