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The dating of linguistic beginnings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Phillip V. Tobias
Phillip V. Tobias
Affiliation:
Palaeo-anthropology Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa. [email protected]
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Abstract

The problem of how certain structure–function composites of high complexity could have evolved gradually and by natural selection has been with us at least since Charles Darwin admitted how difficult it was to explain, “his” theory, the origins of “organs of extreme perfection and complication” – such as the eyes of higher animals. Human language capacity is another evolutionary achievement of extraordinary perfection and complexity. Like other skilled human activities, it involves both central (neural) and peripheral (vocal and respiratory) complexes. The reduction of these to simpler building stones to which evolutionary principles may be applied is staggeringly difficult.

Type
Continuing Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 789 - 792
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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