Posted on 04/09/2013 10:10:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Scientists claim to have identified the missing link between human speech and monkey chatter.
Researchers analysed the distinctive "lip-smacking" sounds made by wild gelada baboons of the Ethopian highlands and found striking similarities to human speech.
Their noises are so human-like that Thore Bergman, an assistant professor with the University of Michigan, thought he heard people talking while he was hanging out with the creatures.
"I would find myself frequently looking over my shoulder to see who was talking to me, but it was just the geladas," he said. "It was unnerving to have primate vocalizations sound so much like human voices."
Male geladas smack their lips to produce a distincive "wobble" in their calls to females. These sounds follow a similar tempo to human speech.
Bergman suggested the research identified a "plausible" explanation of how human speech evolved.
He said: “The ability to produce complex sounds might have come first. Then, when we could do that, we could attach meanings and communicate in more sophisticated ways. Or it could be that, as we needed to communicate more, we developed an ability to produce a greater variety of sounds.”
Other monkeys smack their lips while eating, but geladas are the only species which do so when communicating. It is believed monkeys living in large groups have stronger vocal skills.
“It’s a very complex social system. They have some of the largest groups of any primate,” Bergman said. “These very large group structures may be linked to vocal complexity. There’s some evidence across primate that bigger groups make more sounds.”
The research can be found in the journal Current Biology. According to the study's abstract, the gelada baboons' "independent evolution of a speech-like vocalization involving complex facial movements provides initial support for the hypothesis that lip-smacking was a precursor to the emergence of human speech".
Uh, oh, we've found the pfabuloush roots of gaiety!
He never got the hang of that whole evolving-a-frontal-cortex thing.
Well played, Sir. Well played indeed.
My Mom says that her cat says “Mama”. Maybe we’re descended from cats?
Please disregard the naysayers and carry on for God and Country. Thanks.
Not for nothing, but I do note that you are posting on FreeRepublic, a user funded forum. I also did some research and discovered your name on the 'Monthly Donor' list. Then I see here that you are griping about donation requests (posted on virtually every thread on this forum during the Freepathon.)
I can only assume since you are voicing displeasure at the existence of donation requests on a thread that you didn't even author, that you in your status of 'monthly donor' have sent your check of sufficient size as to bring this Freepathon to a close by the end on THIS day.
Having said my piece, I will go back to lurk mode...
Maybe you would like to explain to Jim Rob how you are volunteering to fund FR without Freepathons...
Will do. :-)
Impeccable logic, Mr. Spock; can't go wrong: either all your base are covered, or all your base are belong to us.
You betcha! :)
[This in no way reflects on you for posting it--glad you did]
I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I think spamming the threads is probably counter productive.
Nice, touch pinging the Boss. No fear.
Proper etiquette. Mention..ping. Only right.
Thanks for the ping!
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