Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Whether human language evolved via a gestural or a vocal route remains an unresolved and contentious issue. Given the existence of two preconditions-a "language faculty" and the capacity for imitative learning both vocally and manually-there is no compelling evidence for gesture being inherently inferior to vocalization as a mode of linguistic expression; indeed, signed languages are capable of the same expressive range as spoken ones. Here, we revisit this conundrum, championing recent methodological advances in human neuroimaging (specifically, in utero functional magnetic resonance imaging) as a window into the role of the prenatal gestational period in language evolution, a critical, yet currently underexplored environment in which fetuses are exposed to, and become attuned to, spoken language. In this Unsolved Mystery, we outline how, compared to visual sensitivity, the ontogenically earlier development of auditory sensitivity, beginning in utero and persisting for several months post-partum, alongside the relative permeability of the uterine environment to sound, but not light, may constitute a small but significant contribution to the current dominance of spoken language.
Source: PLoS Biology
Authors: Alexis Hervais-Adelman, Simon W. Townsend
Institutions: University of Geneva, University of Zurich
Language: English
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,500
Awards: Combinatoriality in animal vocal communication, NCCR Evolving Language: The Origins and Future of Language, Native Accents in Infants' Cries - A primitive mechanism to optimise caregiver responses, and the foundation of spoken language, Exploring audio-motor integration: a novel approach to overcoming hearing impairment
OpenAlex ID: W4409473702