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The ape and the first word: Understanding the origins and evolution of the first linguistic structures in the human clade through comparative research

猿和第一个词：通过比较研究了解人类进化枝中第一个语言结构的起源和演变

基本信息

批准号：
MR/T04229X/1
负责人：
Adriano Lameira
金额：
$ 149.2万
依托单位：
University of Warwick
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2021 至无数据
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FT04229X%2F1
关键词：
ape first word Understanding origins

项目摘要

Language defines being human, but its evolution defies scientific explanation. Progress has been hampered by what great apes (our closest relatives) presumably can and (mostly) cannot do vocally (i.e. how humans predominantly encode language). This idea derives from historical projects in the 1960s that failed to teach apes to talk. Critically, however, there was no knowledge then about great apes' natural vocal repertoire, their vocal predispositions, preferences or limitations. My work has recently uncovered that great apes exert control over vocal production to a level far beyond what has been hitherto appreciated, and that they produce, in fact, voiced vowel- and voiceless consonant-like calls, which orangutans further meld into syllable-like combinations. The project will use these combinations as living models for the first proto-linguistic structures to have emerged within the human clade. Doing so, we will be able, for the first time, to reconstruct the conditions gathered in language's "warm little pond" of proto-vowels and -consonants (to paraphrase Darwin) and uncover the forces that catalysed language onset. I will tackle 5 major theory-, technique- and technology-driven objectives. (1) Did the rise of consonants trigger language evolution? We will compare orangutan consonant-vowel-like combinations with primate vowel-vowel-like combinations to identify exactly what changed in terms of signal dynamics and evolvability once consonant-like calls became available within our lineage as building blocks for generating composed signals. (2) How did learning affect the first proto-linguistic structures? Using an original paradigm across wild orangutan populations, we will investigate how learning impacted the (2.1) use and displaced reference, (2.2) acoustics and semantic content and (2.3) organization and syntactic content of the first proto-words of human ancestors. (3) What level of vocal control did proto-syllable production require? We will quantify, via state-of-the-art remote video-based heart rate sensing technology, the level of arousal vs. control that is in fact involved in vowel- and consonant-like production in apes. (4) How can the study of great ape vocal behaviour be enhanced, accelerated and preserved for future generations? We will build the first global database of great ape vocal data with free open-access worldwide.(5) What structural rules evolved in the great ape brain to produce and transmit information and meaning by stringing signals together? We will explore which major computer algorithms can generate signal strings most similar to those produced by great apes in the wild. Together, these objectives will fling open the door to a new generation of new key insights into the age-old question of language evolution and help understand why, in 3.5 billion years of life of Earth, language only evolved in our direct ancestral lineage.

语言定义了人类，但它的进化却无法用科学来解释。类人猿（我们的近亲）可能会或（大部分）不会发声（即人类主要是如何编码语言），这阻碍了进步。这个想法源于20世纪60年代的历史项目，该项目未能教会猿类说话。然而，关键的是，当时还不知道类人猿的自然发声能力，它们的发声倾向，偏好或局限性。我最近的研究发现，类人猿对发声的控制程度远远超出了我们迄今为止所认识到的水平，事实上，它们会发出类似于发声元音和不发声辅音的声音，而猩猩会将这些声音进一步融合成类似音节的组合。该项目将使用这些组合作为人类进化分支中出现的第一个原始语言结构的活模型。这样做，我们将能够，第一次，重建聚集在语言的“温暖的小池塘”原元音和辅音（套用达尔文的话）的条件，并揭示催化语言起源的力量。我将处理5个主要的理论、技术和技术驱动的目标。(1)辅音的出现触发了语言的进化吗？我们将比较猩猩的辅音-元音组合和灵长类动物的元音-元音组合，以确定当辅音-元音的叫声在我们的谱系中成为产生组合信号的基石时，在信号动力学和进化方面发生了什么变化。(2)学习如何影响最初的原始语言结构？我们将利用野生猩猩种群的原始范式，研究学习如何影响（2.1）使用和取代参考，（2.2）声学和语义内容，（2.3）人类祖先的第一个原始单词的组织和句法内容。(3)产生原音节需要多大程度的声音控制？我们将通过最先进的基于远程视频的心率传感技术，量化类人猿在发出元音和辅音时的兴奋程度和控制程度。(4)如何加强、加快类人猿发声行为的研究，并为后代保留研究成果？我们将建立第一个全球免费开放的类人猿声音数据库。(5)在类人猿的大脑中进化出了什么样的结构规则，通过将信号串在一起产生和传递信息和意义？我们将探索哪些主要的计算机算法可以产生与野生大猩猩产生的信号串最相似的信号串。总之，这些目标将为语言进化这一古老问题的新一代关键见解打开大门，并有助于理解为什么在地球35亿年的生命中，语言只在我们的直系祖先谱系中进化。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（8）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

Wild orangutans can simultaneously use two independent vocal sound sources similarly to songbirds and human beatboxers.

DOI：
10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad182
发表时间：
2023-06
期刊：
PNAS NEXUS
影响因子：
0
作者：
Lameira, Adriano R.;Hardus, Madeleine E.
通讯作者：
Hardus, Madeleine E.

Orangutan information broadcast via consonant-like and vowel-like calls breaches mathematical models of linguistic evolution.

DOI：
10.1098/rsbl.2021.0302
发表时间：
2021-09
期刊：
Biology letters
影响因子：
3.3
作者：
Lameira AR;Alexandre A;Gamba M;Nowak MG;Vicente R;Wich S
通讯作者：
Wich S

Sociality predicts orangutan vocal phenotype.

DOI：
10.1038/s41559-022-01689-z
发表时间：
2022-05
期刊：
Nature ecology & evolution
影响因子：
16.8
作者：
Lameira AR;Santamaría-Bonfil G;Galeone D;Gamba M;Hardus ME;Knott CD;Morrogh-Bernard H;Nowak MG;Campbell-Smith G;Wich SA
通讯作者：
Wich SA

Arboreal origin of consonants and thus, ultimately, speech

辅音的树栖起源以及最终的语音