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9-26-2018 The Origin and Evolution of Human Communication: If We Were Walking the Walk, Were We Walking the Talk? James Mancinelli La Salle University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Mancinelli, James, "The Origin and Evolution of Human Communication: If We Were Walking the Walk, Were We Walking the Talk?" (2018). Explorer Café. 73. https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/explorercafe/73

This Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the Explorer Connection at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Explorer Café by an authorized administrator of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION If we were walking the walk, were we talking the talk? “If we want to understand human communication, therefore, we cannot begin with language.” --(Tomasello, p.59, 2008) Meet the Family

John Edward Gray (1825)

Milestone Epoch Approximate Time Hominin/Hominid Frame Divergence from Late Miocene ≈9-12mya Hominid great apes Divergence from Late Miocene ≈6-8mya Hominid chimpanzees Bipedalism Pliocene; ≈4mya; Hominin Pleistocene ≈1.89mya (Ardipithecus ramidus); hominin (H. Erectus) Using Fire Pleistocene 1.42mya (East Hominin (H. Africa) erectus) Controlling Fire Pleistocene 0.2-1.7mya Hominin (H. (Swartkrans, S. erectus) Africa) Tool construction Pleistocene 3.3mya (Lake Hominin: and use Turkana, Kenya) Australopithecines; Australopithecus afarensis (“Lucy” species) is a candidate First Evidence of Pleistocene Blombos Cave (S. Hominin: H. sapiens Symbols (Paleolithic period) Africa); 75k-100kya

Cave Pleistocene 40k – 35K: France; Hominin: H. sapiens Paintings/Sculpture (Paleolithic period) Spain; Germany

Music (?) Pleistocene Flute: Hohle Fels Hominin: H. sapiens (Paleolithic period) cave; Swabia, Germany BLOMBOS CAVE ARTIFACT DATED TO 73,000 BLOMBOS CAVE ARTIFACT DATED TO 75-100K AURIGNACIAN FLUTE FROM HOHLE FELS CAVE (40K – 35K) HOHLE FELS FIGURINES FROM AURIGNACIAN PERIOD 36,000YA WHICH CAME FIRST, THE POINT, THE MIME, OR THE GRUNT? A LONG, LONG, TIME AGO……

Attention getters Referential pointing Pantomiming (iconic gestures) REFERENTIAL AND INTENTIONAL GESTURE IN CHIMPANZEES

• Referential pointing and individual intentionality: “arm raise” = “acquire object” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n6s6lCbASM

• Referential pointing (referential) and pantomime (iconic gesturing)in Bonobos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Wxpt_yUAY WHAT WERE THE FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCKS OF HUMAN COOPERATIVE COMMUNICATION? SHARED INTENTIONALITY

•Joint intention •Joint attention •Establishing a common ground (shared understanding of the situation at hand) “I KNOW THAT YOU KNOW THAT I KNOW…” AN ESSENTIAL BUILDING BLOCK

Recursive mind-reading HUMAN COOPERATION MODEL

•Social Intention •Communicative Intention •Referential intention EVOLVED COMMUNICATIVE MOTIVES BASED ON SHARED INTENTIONALITY

•Requesting •Informing •Sharing TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK……. WHO SAID WHAT TO WHO, WHEN AND HOW? Brain size Vocal tract (SVT) Anatomical necessities: skull geometry(?) Respiratory function Central neural mechanisms Social driver Purpose GEOMETRIC RELATIONSHIPS HTTPS://WWW.GOOGLE.COM/SEARCH?Q=COMPARISON+OF+CHIMP+AND+HUMAN+VOCAL+TRACTS&RLZ=1C1CHBF_ENUS72 7US727&SOURCE=LNMS&TBM=ISCH&SA=X&VED=0AHUKEWIF5J7H5RJDAHVEILAKHC2AATEQ_AUICIGB&BIW=1920&BIH=943#IM GRC=AS7_YD0DMWUXSM: THE BIG QUESTIONS

•Who? •When? •How? •Why? “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BATTING FIRST FOR THE HOMININS IS…..” H. sapiens H. erectus H. heidelbergensis

Australopithecine

H. Neanderthalensis

H. floriensis SELECTED REFERENCES

Fitch, W. T. (2018). The biology and evolution of speech: a comparative analysis. Annual Review of Linguistics, 4, 255-279. Lieberman, P. (2012). Vocal tract anatomy and the neural bases of talking. Journal of Phonetics, 40, 608-622. Scott-Phillips, T. C. (2015). Non-human primate communication, pragmatics, and the origins of language. Current Anthropology, 56(1), 56-80. Searle, J. (2010). Making the Social World: the Structure of Human Civilization. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of Human Communication. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press