Neanderthals and language
Neanderthals and language
- The other species of hominid with the gene responsible for language
One of the species that lived a long time with modern humans or Homo sapiens, was Homo neanderthalensis or Neanderthal, these existed in Europe approximately 400,000 and 35,000 years ago (Tristán, 2007; Gutiérrez, 2007). To answer the question of whether the members of this species were able to communicate with articulated language, as people do today, there are studies conducted by geneticists in which FOXP2, a gene and a protein were found of the same name responsible for the language (Krause et al, 2007; Aznarez Torralvo, 2008; Benitez-Burraco and Longa, 2011; POLIGLOSIA, 2015). Before the discovery of this gene, the hypotheses given by scientists like Steven Mithen in his work The Singing Neanderthals, said that this species communicated through grunts, but today, thanks to the work of researchers like Carles Lalueza-Fox in El Sidrón, one of the most important neanderthal sites in the world, can already be assured that they had a form of communication similar to that of modern humans. Keep in mind that the main features that make speech possible in modern humans are the FOXP2 gene and the phonoarticulatory apparatus, both found in both Neanderthals and modern humans.
Hermann Schaaffhausen [Public domain]
References:
Aznarez Torralvo, M. (2008). “Más cerca de nosotros”. En El País. Recuperado de https://elpais.com/diario/2008/04/13/eps/1208068014_850215.html
Benítez-Burraco, A. y Longa, V. M. (2011). "El papel del ADN fósil en Paleoantropología: FOXP2, Neandertales y lenguaje". En Zephyrus 67: 45-68. ISSN: 0514-7336
Gutiérrez, M. (2007). “Los neandertales podían hablar”. En La Vanguardia. Recuperado de https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20071019/53404252594/los-neandertales-podian-hablar.html
Krause, J.; Lalueza-Fox, C.; Orlando, L. (2007). "The derived FOXP2 variant of modern humans was shared with Neandertals". En Current Biology. 17 (21): 1, 908–1, 912. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.008. PMID 17949978
POLIGLOSIA. (2015). ¿Cómo hablaban los neandertales?. Recuperado de https://poliglosia.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/habla-neandertales-lenguaje/
Tristán, R.M. (2007). “Descubren que los neandertales podían hablar como el 'Homo sapiens' hace 400.000 años”. En elmundo.es. Recuperado de https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/10/18/ciencia/1192706808.html
How to cite this article:
Nocetti, F.A. (2019). "Neanderthals and language". In NabbuBlog. Retrieved from http://nabbublog.blogspot.com/2019/12/neanderthals-and-language.html