Evolution’s great mystery: Language - Michael Corballis
-
0:07 - 0:10In the 1980s, a bonobo named Kanzi
-
0:10 - 0:14learned to communicate with humans
to an unprecedented extent— -
0:14 - 0:16not through speech or gestures,
-
0:16 - 0:21but using a keyboard of abstract symbols
representing objects and actions. -
0:21 - 0:26By pointing to several of these in order,
he created sequences to make requests, -
0:26 - 0:28answer verbal questions
from human researchers, -
0:28 - 0:32and refer to objects
that weren’t physically present. -
0:32 - 0:37Kanzi’s exploits ignited immediate
controversy over one question: -
0:37 - 0:40had Kanzi learned language?
-
0:40 - 0:44What we call language is something
more specific than communication. -
0:44 - 0:47Language is about sharing
what’s in our minds: -
0:47 - 0:50stories, opinions, questions,
the past or future, -
0:50 - 0:53imagined times or places, ideas.
-
0:53 - 0:55It is fundamentally open-ended,
-
0:55 - 0:59and can be used to say
an unlimited number of things. -
0:59 - 1:03Many researchers are convinced
that only humans have language, -
1:03 - 1:08that the calls and gestures other species
use to communicate are not language. -
1:08 - 1:12Each of these calls and gestures generally
corresponds to a specific message, -
1:12 - 1:15for a limited total number of messages
-
1:15 - 1:18that aren’t combined
into more complex ideas. -
1:18 - 1:21For example, a monkey species
might have a specific warning call -
1:21 - 1:25that corresponds to a particular predator,
like a snake— -
1:25 - 1:29but with language, there are countless
ways to say “watch out for the snake.” -
1:29 - 1:33So far no animal communication seems
to have the open-endedness -
1:33 - 1:35of human language.
-
1:35 - 1:38We don’t know for sure what’s going
on in animals’ heads, -
1:38 - 1:40and it's possible this definition
of language, -
1:40 - 1:43or our ways of measuring it,
don’t apply to them. -
1:43 - 1:47But as far as we know,
only humans have language. -
1:47 - 1:51And while humans speak
around 7,000 distinct languages, -
1:51 - 1:53any child can learn any language,
-
1:53 - 1:57indicating that the biological machinery
underlying language -
1:57 - 1:59is common to all of us.
-
1:59 - 2:02So what does language mean for humanity?
-
2:02 - 2:06What does it allow us to do,
and how did we come to have it? -
2:06 - 2:10Exactly when we acquired this capacity
is still an open question. -
2:10 - 2:14Chimps and bonobos
are our closest living relatives, -
2:14 - 2:18but the lineage leading to humans
split from the other great apes -
2:18 - 2:21more than four million years ago.
-
2:21 - 2:24In between, there were many species—
all of them now extinct, -
2:24 - 2:29which makes it very difficult to know
if they had language or anything like it. -
2:29 - 2:33Great apes give one potential clue
to the origins of language, though: -
2:33 - 2:37it may have started as gesture
rather than speech. -
2:37 - 2:41Great apes gesture to each other
in the wild much more freely -
2:41 - 2:43than they vocalize.
-
2:43 - 2:46Language may have begun to take shape
during the Pleistocene, -
2:46 - 2:502 to 3 million years ago,
with the emergence of the genus Homo -
2:50 - 2:55that eventually gave rise
to our own species, homo sapiens. -
2:55 - 2:59Brain size tripled, and bipedalism
freed the hands for communication. -
2:59 - 3:02There may have been a transition
from gestural communication -
3:02 - 3:04to gestural language—
-
3:04 - 3:07from pointing to objects
and pantomiming actions— -
3:07 - 3:10to more efficient, abstract signing.
-
3:10 - 3:15The abstraction of gestural communication
would have removed the need for visuals, -
3:15 - 3:18setting the stage for a transition
to spoken language. -
3:18 - 3:21That transition would have
likely come later, though. -
3:21 - 3:26Articulate speech depends
on a vocal tract of a particular shape. -
3:26 - 3:30Even our closest ancestors,
the Neanderthals and Denisovans, -
3:30 - 3:33had vocal tracts that were not optimal,
-
3:33 - 3:35though they likely had
some vocal capacity, -
3:35 - 3:37and possibly even language.
-
3:37 - 3:40Only in humans is the vocal tract optimal.
-
3:40 - 3:46Spoken words free the hands for activities
such as tool use and transport. -
3:46 - 3:48So it may have been
the emergence of speech, -
3:48 - 3:52not of language itself, that led
to the dominance of our species. -
3:52 - 3:58Language is so intimately tied to complex
thought, perception, and motor functions -
3:58 - 4:02that it’s difficult to untangle
its biological origins. -
4:02 - 4:04Some of the biggest mysteries remain:
-
4:04 - 4:08to what extent did language
as a capacity shape humanity, -
4:08 - 4:11and to what extent did humanity
shape language? -
4:11 - 4:16What came first, the vast number
of possible scenarios we can envisage, -
4:16 - 4:18or our ability to share them?
- Title:
- Evolution’s great mystery: Language - Michael Corballis
- Speaker:
- Michael Corballis
- Description:
-
View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/evolution-s-great-mystery-language-michael-corballis
What we call language is something more specific than communication. Language is about sharing what’s in our minds: stories, opinions, questions, the past or future, imagined times or places, ideas. It is fundamentally open-ended, and can be used to say an unlimited number of things. So what does language mean for humanity, and how did we come to have it? Michael Corballis investigates.
Lesson by Michael Corballis, directed by Biljana Labovic.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 04:21
lauren mcalpine approved English subtitles for Evolution's great mystery: Language | ||
lauren mcalpine accepted English subtitles for Evolution's great mystery: Language | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for Evolution's great mystery: Language | ||
Tara Ahmadinejad edited English subtitles for Evolution's great mystery: Language | ||
Tara Ahmadinejad edited English subtitles for Evolution's great mystery: Language |