This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: When asked about the greatest innovation of humans, people often say language or fire. A new paper suggests these innovations may be more interlinked than we previously assumed.
Understanding how human language evolved is one of the hardest problems in science to unpick, since writing is a relatively recent innovation. Also, the vocal tracts and brains of our ancestors did not fossilize because they were made of soft tissue. We are left, then, with indirect evidence about how humans and other apes communicate today.
One of the most prominent theories about the origins of human language is that our ancestors started to communicate using gestural language. This theory is based on our understanding of the abilities of apes, as evidence suggests both chimpanzees and gorillas have gestural communication systems. We also know that one of the best strategies for communicating when you don't have a shared language is gesture.
We often do this when communicating on vacation with someone who doesn't speak our language; we point, mime and emote to get our message across. Some of my previous research has shown that we do this because gestures or sign languages are often more iconic than words in spoken languages. This means their meaning is easier to guess for someone without any previous knowledge of the gesture or language being spoken; perfect for creating a new language from scratch.
If human language started with gestures, then why are the vast majority of languages today spoken? One reason for this shift might lie in the limits of gestural language. You need a light source to see a gesture, and communication would have been necessary for our ancestors after dark.
An article by researchers at the University of St Andrews argues that, by the dim light of a campfire, we might find an explanation for why we moved from gesture to spoken language. Although firelight is a light source, it is potentially too dim for us to rely on it for the meaningful parts of early gestural language. For fully expressive stories in the dark, we would need spoken language but still keep gestural elements to emphasize and emote our speech.
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