Latest news with #ShigeruMiyagawa
The Independent
18-03-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Groundbreaking DNA study reveals when humans likely began talking
Early humans may have started using language for communication over , a new review of genomic data shows. There are some 7,000 identified languages spoken globally, and researchers say they all have a common origin back when early human groups started spreading across the world. Our ancestors developed the cognitive ability for language, combining vocabulary and grammar into a system of expression, over millions of years of evolution. The capacity to talk in humans first appeared at least 135,000 years ago, more than 100,000 years after the species first emerged in Africa. The new review, detailed in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, examines over a dozen genetic studies published in the past 18 years to indicate an initial branching of humans about 135,000 years ago. After groups of early humans went apart geographically, each subpopulation developed genetic variations. "Every population branching across the globe has human language and all languages are related,' study co-author Shigeru Miyagawa, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, said. "I think we can say with a fair amount of certainty that the first split occurred about 135,000 years ago, so human language capacity must have been present by then, or before,' Dr Miyagawa explained. The 15 genome studies reviewed in the current research collectively point to when the first geographic splits started taking place. By analysing the genetic variations explained in the studies, the researchers could estimate the point in time at which Homo sapiens was still a single regionally undivided group. They say the data points to some 135,000 years ago as the likely time of the first split. 'Recent genome-level studies on the divergence of early Homo sapiens, based on single nucleotide polymorphisms, suggest that the initial population division within H sapiens from the original stem occurred approximately 135 thousand years ago,' they say. Since all subsequent spread of human groups led to populations with full language capacity, scientists suspect the potential for language as a communication tool was present at the latest around 135,000 years ago, before the first division occurred. 'Had linguistic capacity developed later, we would expect to find some modern human populations without language or with some fundamentally different mode of communication. Neither is the case,' the researchers conclude. 'Based on the lower boundary of 135,000 years ago for language, we propose that language may have triggered the widespread appearance of modern human behavior approximately 100,000 years ago.'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Crucial Feature of Human Language Emerged More Than 135,000 Years Ago
Humans speak more than 7,000 languages today. As different as they all seem, researchers argue in a new review that they all stem from a single linguistic family tree that emerged before our species split into distinct populations 135,000 years ago. By 100,000 years ago, this verbal revolution was cemented into the behavior of Homo sapiens, archeologically visible in our use of symbolism in body decorations and engravings. "Every population branching across the globe has human language, and all languages are related," says MIT linguist Shigeru Miyagawa. "I think we can say with a fair amount of certainty that the first split occurred about 135,000 years ago, so human language capacity must have been present by then, or before." Miyagawa and colleagues reviewed the scientific literature and found 15 studies that reach the same conclusion in spite of using different methods. Whole-genome, Y chromosome, and mitochondrial DNA analyses all point to Homo sapiens first fracturing into distinct populations around 135,000 years ago. "Had linguistic capacity developed later, we would expect to find some modern human populations without language, or with some fundamentally different mode of communication," the researchers argue in their paper. "Neither is the case." A lag between the emergence of human language and its widespread appearance in the archeological records suggests this novel level of communication molded characteristic human behaviors, from the rise of systemic engraving to burials of our dead, the team believes. Such behaviors have only been located sporadically before then. "Somehow it stimulated human thinking and helped create these kinds of behaviors," says Miyagawa. "If we are right, people were learning from each other [due to language] and encouraging innovations of the types we saw 100,000 years ago." Other archaeologists, however, counter that these behavioral shifts were a more gradual accumulation, aided by – but not necessarily centered around – language as humans experimented with new materials and formed more elaborate social networks over time. What's more, the capacity for language pre-exists our species and is present in other animals. But evidence for consistent use of symbolic thinking has not been so widespread. While the way we arrange words to create complex meaning has been detected in other animals, how humans use it appears unique, at least so far, as there's a lot we're still learning about how other animals communicate. Using words symbolically, as in figurative speech such as 'to spill the beans', is one example of the unique way we use language. "This gives us the ability to generate very sophisticated thoughts and to communicate them to others," explains Miyagawa, arguing "language was the trigger for modern human behavior." This research was published in Frontiers in Psychology. Mysterious Twist Revealed in Saga of Human-Neanderthal Hybrid Child Venting Doesn't Reduce Anger, But Something Else Does, Study Reveals Face of Overlooked Human Ancestor Could Set Record in Western Europe
