Sapiens, the Chatty Ape
- didiermoretti
- Jul 9, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 4, 2024
Have you ever wondered why humans, not dolphins or chimpanzees, rule the planet? The answer might be simpler than you think: we talk. A lot.
The secret to our dominance lies in language, that uniquely human cognitive capability that has shaped our entire history. Language is arguably the most disruptive innovation in Earth's evolutionary history, the superpower that enabled human knowhow and sociability to grow exponentially, and catapulted Sapiens to the top of the food chain. With language we can accumulate, augment and share knowledge across continents and centuries. But what makes human language so special?
The Unique Human Chatterbox
Many animals have vocal communication systems. Apes and birds use various calls to signal danger, attract attention, and express emotions. Whales produce a wide array of sounds, and parrots can repeat anything Siri says, and mimic the sound of your car alarm. But only humans can debate the merits of different economic systems or ponder the nature of existence itself - for better or worse.
Human language is unique in its flexibility and syntax. We can link sounds and words together in countless combinations, creating an infinite variety of sentences - a talent we sometimes use to say very little of substance.
The beauty of language lies in its ability to convey complex emotions, ideas, and stories with just a few chosen words. It can be precise, but also leave room for interpretation. Consider the word "silence" - it can evoke serenity in meditation, tension in a suspense thriller, or grief at a funeral. One-word, countless contexts. It's no wonder good public speakers use pauses for dramatic effect!
Apes and Language: A Bridge Too Far?
Researchers have tried teaching human language to our ape cousins, with mixed results. (1) Humans have vocal cords uniquely adapted to speech, whereas apes can only produce a limited repertoire of sounds. As noted by Max Bennett, (2) researchers experimented with a variety of methods, including sign language, plastic symbols, and computer keyboards. One of the most famous experiments was conducted with a chimpanzee named Washoe, who learned over 200 signs and could combine them in novel ways, such as signing "water bird" the first time she reportedly saw a swan.
While these experiments had varied degrees of success in demonstrating that apes have some language-like abilities, they also revealed significant limitations as apes never surpassed the abilities of a very young human child. These findings suggest that while language may have roots in our shared ancestry, its full complexity is uniquely human.
How and When Did Language Develop?
The exact origins of human language remain a puzzle. Genetic studies as well as anatomical evidence suggest that Neanderthals might have had some language capabilities. But brain structure differences hint that if Neanderthals had language, it was likely more primitive than ours. One can only imagine the fascinating conversations they might have had about the latest in cave decoration trends.
The Longer Version if You Are Really Curious
The exact origins of human language remain a puzzle to this day. One path of inquiry is through genetics - by seeking to identify genes involved in language and estimating when the relevant genetic mutations might have occurred. The FOXP2 gene plays an important role in the development of language in humans, and mutations in the gene can cause severe speech and language disorders. The FOXP2 variant found in Sapiens is also shared with Neanderthals, indicating that it predates the split between the two species. This would suggest that Neanderthals and perhaps even some late Erectus populations had language. However, a similar gene was subsequently discovered in birds, suggesting the gene may have more to do with vocal control and articulation - speech rather than language in case of humans.
Turning to anatomical elements necessary for control over the vocal apparatus, evidence shows that both Neanderthals and Sapiens had the thoracic nerve, hyoid bone (3), and ear canal necessary for speech. This would again point to Neanderthals having sufficient vocal control for more complex vocalizations, a necessary condition for the evolution of language. As argued by Robin Dunbar, it is quite likely that hominins developed more complex vocal repertoires in response to increasing group size. Dunbar cites several studies which have shown that birds and monkeys do exhibit more complex calls and vocalizations in response to increasing group size, which would suggest that this capacity is of very ancient evolutionary origin.
A final piece of the puzzle is based on neuroimaging and the analysis of brain structure - with the difference in brain structure of Sapiens and Neanderthals suggesting that if the latter had language, in all likelihood their language would have been more primitive than ours.
Gossip: The Original "Killer App"
Picture this: Early humans sitting around a campfire, not discussing hunting strategies or tool-making techniques, but rather who's been seen with whom and who can't be trusted with the last piece of mammoth meat. Sound familiar?
Robin Dunbar popularized the theory that language evolved primarily for gossip. (4) As a social species, our survival depends on cooperation, and knowing who to trust is crucial. It stands to reason that the most important information we can convey is about other people - who is a cheat, who can be trusted, who gets along with whom. Gossip allowed our ancestors to share vital social information, enabling larger and more effective groups.
Even today, studies show that people use language primarily to talk about other people. Gossip elicits further gossip to keep track of everyone's reputation including our own. And there is much to talk about: in a group of 150 people (the “Dunbar number"), there are 11,175 one- on-one relationships - and millions of possible subgroup interactions. The importance and complexity of human social interactions means that we have an insatiable curiosity about it. No wonder we're so fascinated to know who's doing what with whom!
Memes: Ideas with Legs
Language allowed humans to share ideas (or "memes") with high precision. Good ideas spread and evolved, while bad ones died out. This process, similar to genetic evolution, helped refine successful strategies for living across generations - a brilliant insight by Richard Dawkins, author of "The Selfish Gene". (5) Ironically, this meme-spreading ability recently helped cat videos conquer the internet.
Knowledge: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Language supercharged our ability to learn and accumulate knowledge. Instead of relying solely on individual experience or observation, we could quickly share complex information. This led to an exponential growth in collective knowledge, setting us apart from other species whose learning remains relatively stagnant across generations. While a chimpanzee might rediscover the same tool-use techniques generation after generation, humans have progressed from discovering fire to inventing smartphones in a relatively short span of time.
Creative Cooperation, At Increasing Scale
Thanks to language humans were able to significantly improve their coordination, for instance while hunting or scavenging. An accomplished hunter could say "wait here, and let's drive the herd towards the cliff when you hear my signal". Such a hunter could now also communicate with members of another group and enlist their help in ambushing a much larger herd, with increased benefits to all involved.
Dunbar's research showed that there are strict limits to scaling cooperation among other animals: in the absence of language, cooperation requires group members to directly know each other. This limits group size to about 50 individuals for chimpanzees, and about 150 for humans. (6) Language does away with this requirement, opening the door to cooperation on a much bigger scale - such as working together to erect monuments.
As more people became involved, more ideas were generated, knowledge accumulation accelerated, leading to more creative and effective cooperation at scale. To a large extent, the history of humanity is that of ever-increasing scale and complexity, with language acting as the engine of exponential growth.
Language changed everything - but as we shall see it is the emergence of narrative that gave it profound and far-reaching power and enabled human societies to make meaning and further gain scale.
(2) See the chapter on "speaking and the first humans" in Max Bennett's book "A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs that Made our Brains". Much of the remainder of this page is based on this chapter.
(4) Per Robin Dunbar, group size correlates with size of neocortex
(5) Note that Richard Dawkins is the one who coined the word meme
(6) Dunbar, Robin. Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language., 1998.
