Transcript 250-Bipedalism, Language and Culture

Non-Human Primates
and Language
Kimberly Porter Martin, Ph.D.
Primate
Family
Tree
Ape Family Tree
Primate Characteristics
• Larger brains than other mammals
(Brain/Body ratio)
• Stereoscopic vision
• Color vision
• Opposible thumbs (and big toes)
• Prehensile grip
• Nails rather than claws
• Longer developmental period than other
mammals
Differences between
Humans and Apes
• Language?
• Bipedalism?
• Culture?
Present Vs Absent?
Capacity Vs Complexity?
16 Features of Language
1)Uses the Vocal-auditory channel can be done while doing other
things
2)Uses broadcast transmission - need
not see speaker to understand
message
3)Uses directional reception stereoscopic sound locates speaker
4)Interchangeability - each is
capable of saying what any other
says - not so male vs female signals
in other animals
16 Features of Language
5) Complete feedback - speaker hears
self and monitors message
6) Specialization - is used for no
other purpose than
communication
7) Semanticity – many complex
symbols tied to exact meanings
8) Arbitrariness - no intrinsic
relationship between symbols and
their meanings
16 Features of Language
9) Discreteness - no continuous
sounds (eg. sirens)
10) Displacement - can talk about
the past, or about things not
present spatially
11) Open system - can make unique
new statements and be
understood
12) Duality of patterning - sound
and meaning are linked
16 Features of Language
13) Cultural transmission - no
genetic inheritance of specific
rules/sounds/meanings
14) Prevarication - can lie - most
animals cannot
15) Reflexiveness - we use language
to discuss language
16) Learnability - can learn
multiple language
Brain Specialization
Of all
animals,
only
humans
and apes
have been
found to
have
lateralized
brains
Language Parts of the Brain
Wernicke’s Area
• Receives speech from primary auditory area and decodes
speech
Broca’s Area
• develops speech and sends it to the motor cortex
Geschwind’s Territory
• at the junction of the auditory, visual, and somatosensory
cortexes
• neurons in this lobule can process different kinds of stimuli
(auditory, visual, sensorimotor, etc.) simultaneously.
• doesn’t fully develop until about five years of age
• classifying, labeling, thinking abstractly, forming concepts.
Arcuate fasiculus
• Bundle of neurological connections between three areas
Left Cortex Language Areas
Inferior parietal lobule AKA
Geschwind’s Territory
Genes and Language
Two links between specific genes and
language:
1. The FoxP2 Gene
2. ASPM and Microcephalin Genes
FoxP2
• Discovered through one family(the
“KE” family), half of whom had a
defect in that gene and could not
speak
• The KE family was of Pakistani origin
living in Britain
• In 37 members in 4 generations, 15
suffered specific language
impairment
FoxP2
• Patterns of inheritance indicated
standard dominant/recessive
inheritance, not sex chromosome
inheritance.
• Fox P2n is Located on a short segment
of chromosome 7
• each of us inherits two copies of the
FOXP2 gene: one from our mother,
and one from our father
• both copies must be intact for our
language functions to be normal.
FoxP2
• responsible for producing a protein
called a transcription factor.
• transcription factors bind to DNA
molecules to turn other genes off and
on.
• Broca’s area and the caudate nuclei
(regulates motor control) are
smaller than in normal people
• trouble in identifying some
elementary sounds of language,
• trouble in understanding sentences
and using grammar
ASPM and Microcephalin
• These genes are associated with increased
brain size
• Mutations at these sites cause primary
microcephaly, a developmental defect with
severe reduction in the cerebral cortex—
(planning, abstract reasoning and other
higher brain functions).
• Microcephalin was more involved in
evolution of primate brain size (prosimians
to monkeys)
• ASPM more involved in late evolutionary
step leading to humans.
ASPM and Microcephalin
Both genes are thought to affect
brain development.
Older versions of these genes are
found in tonal language
populations. (Half of the world’s
language are tonal including
many in Asia, Southeast Asia
and Sub Saharan Africa).
New versions of these genes are
found in non-tonal language
populations.
Tonal Language
Example
Mandarin Tone Use
Word
Intonation
ba
[/]
ba
[--]
ba
[\/]
ba
[\]
Meaning
to uproot
eight
to hold
a harrow
Genes and Language
The newer version of ASPM is
traced back to 5800 years ago.
The newer version of
Microcephalin is traced back to
37,000 years ago.
(Dan Dediu and Robert Ladd of the University of
Edinburgh, Scotland, May 2007)
When did language
first appear in
humans?
?????????
Australopithecus vs.
Homo habilis
Homo habilis
600 cc
Australopithecus
400 cc
Homo erectus
Homo erectus
lived between 1.5
and .5 million
years ago. They
hunted large
game and
gathered plant
foods.
(Artists
rendition based
on skeletal and
muscular
reconstruction.)
Homo neanderthalensis
Neanderthals lived
between 200,000
and 28,000 years
ago in what is now
Europe and the
Middle East. There
is evidence that
they may have
buried their dead,
and that they may
have had other
religious rituals.
(Artists rendition
based on skeletal
and muscular
reconstruction.)
Why Language?
Why Language?
Why Language?
Bipedalism
Skeletal differences between:
• Chimpanzee
• Australopithecus
• Homo sapiens
Bipedalism
Bipedalism
From right, H. erectus, H. habilis, 2
species of Australopithecus and
Ardipithecus.
Unertan Syndrome
• In Turkey in 2006, one family of 19 with 5
affected members: mental retardation,
reduced cerebellum in brain, primitive
language capabilities, quadrupedal
locomotion.
• Five unrelated additional families since
discovered, one of these in another part of
Turkey.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9qMm
47YV6Y
Features of Culture
•
•
•
•
Requires abstract thinking
Must be learned/acquired
Allows flexibility and innovation
Needs long developmental period for
learning
• Requires larger and more complex brains
The Cultured Ape
•
•
•
•
•
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTeLsEGPjdU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9kiJ7wnANQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqJO9avJRLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovUggMyWlSI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBjAfdn-8OU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB3yoZAHAw