Abstract
Using artificially synthesized stimuli, previous research has shown that cotton-top tamarin monkeys easily learn simple AB grammar sequences, but not the more complex AnBn sequences that require hierarchical structure. Humans have no trouble learning AnBn combinations. A more recent study, using similar artificially created stimuli, showed that there is a neuroanatomical difference in the brain between these two kinds of arrays. While the simpler AB sequences recruit the frontal operculum, the AnBn array recruits the phylogenetically newer Broca’s area. We propose that on close inspection, reported vocal repertoires of Old World Monkeys show that these nonhuman primates are capable of calls that have two items in them, but never more than two. These are simple AB sequences, as predicted by previous research. In addition, we suggest the two-item call cannot be the result of a combinatorial operation that we see in human language, where the recursive operation of Merge allows for a potentially infinite array of structures. In our view, the two-item calls of nonhuman primates result from a dual-compartment frame into which each of the calls can fit without having to be combined by an operation such as Merge.
Highlights
How did human language arise in evolution? To begin to answer this question, we must first decide what precisely we mean by language
The point is that primate call systems exist that do not combine call elements in order to convey changes in call meaning, potentially explaining the dearth of call combinations and subsequent lack of Merge found in many nonhuman primate systems
This does not entail the existence of a combinatorial operation such as Merge; we will argue when we look at the developmental data of De Brazza’s monkeys (Cercopithecus neglectus), which has a similar system as Campbell’s monkeys, that the calls appear to be learned as whole expressions even when there appears to be an affix, but at the same time, the monkey seems aware that there are parts of calls that carry meaning independent of the entire call
Summary
How did human language arise in evolution? To begin to answer this question, we must first decide what precisely we mean by language. Given that Merge is responsible for creating hierarchical structures, it is possible to view the Broca’s area as giving human language its distinct uniqueness by furnishing this operation to generate structured hierarchical arrays (Zaccarella and Friederici, 2015). “One” refers to the well-known isolated alarm calls found across the primate world, especially observed in the alarm-calling system of vervet monkeys, while “infinite” refers to the infinite potential of the human language that is made possible by the recursive application of Merge It is “two” that we will look at carefully; we will see that it is not based on any combinatorial system such as Merge, a point consistent with previous research. We begin with a brief discussion of the “one” system
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