Human Language and Our Reptilian Brain by LIEBERMAN Philip

Author:LIEBERMAN, Philip [LIEBERMAN, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
Tags: book
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Evolution of the Functional Language System

137

ception, it also decreases biological fitness by making swallowing liquids and solid food more risky. The only biological function that the human SVT appears to enhance is the saliency of speech sounds (Lieberman, 1975, 1984,

1991, 1998; Laitman, Heimbuch, and Crelin, 1979; Carré et al., 1994;

Hauser, 1996; D. Lieberman, 1998).

Figure 5-1 shows the head and neck of a young adult male chimpanzee.

The tongue is positioned within the mouth. The larynx is positioned close to

the base of the skull and, like the periscope of a submarine, can be raised to

form a passageway in which air flows through the nose into the chimpan-

zee’s lungs, sealed off from the flow of liquids and small particles of food that can simultaneously pass to either side of the raised larynx into the pharynx

and from there to the digestive tract. All nonhuman primates and newborn

human beings possess the standard-plan supralaryngeal airway (Negus,

1949). Victor Negus (1949) also pointed out the advantages of this standard-

plan airway for breathing and swallowing. Since the larynx can remain in

this raised position except when large pieces of food are swallowed, an ani-

mal can breathe and drink or ingest small pieces of food without the possi-

nasal cavity

palate

velum

epiglottis

tongue

Figure

Exam Copy

hyoid

larynx

5-1. The head and neck of an adult male chimpanzee. Note the high

position of the larynx, the long oral cavity, and the position of the tongue in the mouth.

Copyright © 2000 The President and Fellows of Harvard College

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