The Truth about Language: What It Is and Where It Came From by Michael C. Corballis

Author:Michael C. Corballis [Corballis, Michael C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf, azw3
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Beyond Apes

If we go back in time to the point, around six or seven million years ago, when our forebears, the hominins, began to diverge from the lineage that led to modern chimpanzees and bonobos, we find an ape already well adapted to making voluntary movements with the limbs but ill equipped either to make voluntary sounds or to modify them. If one were to begin to design a language system for such an animal, one would surely start with movements of the hands. This is exactly what happened when scientists started to find some success in building a languagelike system in present-day apes. When the bonobo Kanzi communicates his requests, he does so by pointing and gesturing, not by speaking. And as we have seen, apes may be capable of simple miming.

The hominin line differed from the line leading to modern apes in one respect that would surely have enhanced manual communication. The hominins were bipedal, standing and walking upright on two legs, which freed the arms and hands from any direct involvement in locomotion. Exactly why the hominins became bipedal is uncertain. It was in many respects a bad move, so to speak. The transition from being mainly horizontal to being vertical caused new stress to nearly every bone in the body. In chimpanzees the spine is comparatively stiff and gently curved, whereas in humans it is highly flexible with an S-shaped curve, making us especially susceptible to osteoarthritis and lower back pain. The weight of the body is carried by two feet instead of four, leading to all kinds of potential problems, including bunions, flat feet, hammertoes—even varicose veins.320 We are something of a walking disaster. One is tempted to side with the pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “Four legs good, two legs bad.”

The benefits of bipedalism must have been considerable to outweigh these impediments and help take us to a less porcine mode of existence—although not necessarily a happier one. There is little evidence that bipedal walking is more efficient than the knuckle walking adopted by the great apes. Chimps can move faster than even human athletes, although we humans may be better adapted to running long distances.321 Perhaps bipedalism emerged because our forebears the hominins were increasingly exposed to open terrain rather than the safety of the forest, and upright walking gave a better sense of the spatial surroundings—although an alternative view is that bipedalism was an adaptation to wading and foraging in water.322 However it came about, bipedalism also freed the hands to enable our forebears to carry objects, such as foodstuffs, tools, or their infants, from one location to another. But it may not be too far-fetched to suppose that the critical advantage arose precisely because the freeing of the hands provided for more effective gestural communication.

Just when bipedalism emerged is not altogether clear. Great apes are quadrupeds, walking with the knuckles of the forearms touching the ground. Until recently it was thought that our ape forebears must all have been knuckle

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