Spoken Language

The specific reasons for the development of the spoken language of humans is still being disputed at this very point in time. Whether it be an improvement over gestural language which can be seen in the behaviour of primates with the help of humans, or by other factors such as social rank or in this specific paper, interpersonal relationships, it does not change the overall importance of spoken language as an evolutionary marvel. The interpersonal relations of a group-living species prompted the need for a new system of communication outside the realm of “grooming” one another. Without spoken language the communities of animals would be limited in size. The act of manually grooming has been seen as a way of having interpersonal relations
between members of a community. Specifically in communities of diurnal primates where they have hierarchal systems that have strong dominant/subordinate relationships (Cheney 1997). The dominant of the community tends to be the one being groomed while the subordinate members groom the dominant. This could be out of desire to be in the good favor of the dominant member so that the subordinate might be allowed some benefits from them (Cheney & Seyfarth 1990). The ability of having these relationships with grew in importance as community size also grew. When alliances and “friendships” were necessary to the lives of the subordinate members of the community (Locke 2001). The problem arises when the communities started to get too large to accomplish all of the necessary aspects of life while still being able to keep these interpersonal relationships. If any group wanted to accomplish things such as building nests, feeding, having sex, and taking care of their young, they would have needed to spend less than 20% of their time grooming in order to succeed (Dunbar 1996). As the community sizes grew, they also had to spend more time grooming in order to keep up positive interpersonal relationships with other members. If they did not do this, they would not be able to hold alliances that would help to protect them from competitors or outside aggressions (Dunbar 1996). With the increased need of taking the time of day to upkeep these interpersonal relationships, the need to be able to communicate in a more efficient manner must have arose to allow for the necessary functions of life (Locke 2001). This need for increased efficiency led to the development of “spoken language” or at least the ability to communicate vocally over just grooming.
This is because vocal communication is not limited to the medium of physical exchanges or one-on-one endeavors such as grooming (Cheney & Seyfarth 1990). Within the realm of interpersonal relations, language also has been seen to be used for the purpose becoming a means of bonding people into a union based solely on companionship (Malinowski 1923). However, Malinowski (1923) also thought that only specific “civilised societies” would use language for the case of transmission of information. This is clearly a skewed view of reality, and in fact it has been shown to be untrue. Soskin & John (1963) had an American couple record their verbal exchanges and after listening to over 2,000 messages between the two, 75% of their exchanges held no transmission of facts. This begs the question if the transfer of information is absolutely necessary part of most verbal
communication. In fact, it is not necessary to bring about the necessary conditions to have developed the means to using verbal communication.
As stated above, what was most necessary to bring out the need for vocal language would have been growing populations and the need to develop interpersonal relationships in a much more efficient manner (Dunbar 1996). This can be seen through the communication of infants with their caretakers. Locke (1996) brings this up to show that the development of a relationship between a mother and her child can be done through vocal exchanges. The communication between the two does not have anything to do with transmission of facts; a baby does not have the rationalization capabilities of a full grown adult, which means that they will be unable to accurately describe anything. Bowlby (1969) showed evidence that these interchanges between the mother and baby were so that the proximity between the two of them stayed close. This type of behavior can also be seen in pygmy marmosets. The behaviors appear to affect the listeners of the exchanges as well as the care that the baby receives (Snowdon, Elowson & Roush
1997). Will all of this considered, it is not hard to see the implications of how population growth and this seemingly inherent need to have interpersonal relationships within primate communities could have also affected the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens. Since since primates and human beings share a common ancestor it would seem reasonable to assert that they also could share in the means of developing vocal interchanges. It also seems that it is safe to assert that these vocal interchanges need not be over factual items from the evidence put forth by Soskin & John (1969). In terms of anatomical differences the shape of the hyoid bone, which is directly below the jaw, serves to help with greater range of motion in the mouth and the ability to move the tongue in more complex fashions (Arsenburg, et al. 1990). This combined with the development of the larger brains of H. sapiens could account for the development of complex spoken languages that could transmit the abstract thought that they are capable of (Arsenburg, et al. 1990). In conclusion, the combination of population growth of group-living animals, combined with the need to have interpersonal relationships and, also with the anatomical developments of the genus Homo, the stage was set for the development of advanced spoken language. The first two are contributors to the development of vocal-verbal interchanges but are unable to cover up the advanced spoken language of modern humans. These, of course, are not the only factors that contributed, but these would have a large impact on the evolution nonetheless.