Understanding how early on humans developed their capacities of facial expression which led to emergence of the linguistic communication which sets us apart from other species was the topic of an article published inward the Frontiers inward Psychology. Led past times researcher Shigeru Miyagawa, a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), inward the USA, with the participation of linguists Cora Lesure (MIT) as well as Vitor Augusto Nóbrega, from the School of Philosophy, Letters as well as Human Sciences (FFLCH) of USP, the report suggests cave paintings stand upwardly for a modality of linguistic communication expression.
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| Reproduction of a bison of the cave of Altamira [Credit: Rameessos/WikiCommons] |
‘We lead keep upwardly the topic of cave fine art as well as archeoacoustics, specially the regain that cave fine art is oftentimes closely connected to the acoustic properties of the cave chambers inward which it is found’ the researchers explicate inward the introduction of their article. For them, ‘early modern humans were able to regain the way audio reverberated inward these chambers, as well as they painted artwork on surfaces that were acoustic “hot spots,” i.e., suitable for generating echoes’.
Based on that, linguists debate cave fine art is “a cast of cross-modality information transfer, inward which acoustic signals are transformed into symbolic visual representations”. That is, it is the outset sign of “how the symbolic take away heed of early on modern humans was taking shape into concrete, externalized language”.
Beyond the allegory as well as the cave
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 linguist graduated from USP, Nóbrega started his academic career studying how chemical compound words, such every bit “glass cleaner”, “swordfish”, etc., were formed inward unlike languages, as well as which the minimum requirements were for forming them inward whatever language. In his doctoral studies, his focus shifted to how human beings managed to considerably expand their vocabulary, a land known every bit Biolinguistics. The contact with Professor Miyagawa started from this work.
As he tried to sympathise how nosotros prepare what he called lexical competence — the noesis as well as capacity to run the vocabulary to cast sentences inward a linguistic communication — the linguist went deeper on studying the origins of linguistic communication inward an endeavor to uncover how it developed inward the context of evolution, a mystery even then to locomote solved past times scientists, as well as which has intrigued researchers across the world.
“There are reasons to believe the cognitive underpinnings for the evolution of a symbolic consciousness were available at the fourth dimension of the emergence of the Homo sapiens roughly 200,000 years ago”, he says every bit he emphasizes recent discoveries advise the Neanderthals — an extinct human species — too possessed symbolic consciousness.
Archeoacoustics
“Our starting signal is a hypothesis defined inward several industrial plant on archeoacoustics, which advise the place as well as dependent area affair of cave paintings are intimately related to the acoustic properties of the surroundings inward which they were made”, he explains, as well as gives every bit examples hoofed animals, such every bit bulls or bison, which mostly are drawn inward chambers whose acoustic reverberations audio similar hoof beats. It is non a coincidence in that place are cave walls which would lead keep been perfectly suited for painting, simply which were ignored because of the acoustic properties of the cave chambers. Generally speaking, early on humans painted non solely what they saw, simply too what they heard.
“Archeoacoustics is non the solely hypothesis; as well as non all paintings features acoustic properties similar this one. But in that place is a relation betwixt the place as well as the dependent area affair with pregnant statistical outcomes”, argues Vitor every bit he stresses the query suggests cave artists already made run of a reasoning which “stemmed from symbolic consciousness”.
“Based on that relation, nosotros advise the mechanisms these cave representations appear to display are a parallel to what allowed us to prepare human linguistic communication through spoken language as well as signals”, he sums up.
The same thought alongside unlike species
Coincidently, at the same fourth dimension his article was released, ii other studies had an touching on on the scientific community for they managed to examine cave paintings could locomote older than previously thought, dating well-nigh 60,000 years ago, when the Homo sapiens did non be inward Europe. That agency the Neanderthals mightiness lead keep been the outset artists. With that novel information, scientists straightaway require to remember well-nigh how this competence sprang upwardly at the same fourth dimension inward ii unlike species.
Even if cave fine art cannot locomote seen itself every bit language, Nóbrega says its production mightiness advise “the mechanisms underlying the production of icon run parallel to the production of language”. Then, nosotros require to come across them from a multi-sensory signal of view, then nosotros tin position correlations concerning how these paintings represented an advance which mightiness lead keep promoted human language.
Just similar archeology mightiness locomote viewd every bit a reconstruction — every bit archeologists dig for novel evidence to either confirm or disprove historical hypotheses — “the report of linguistic communication formation is too a reconstruction”, argues Nóbrega, every bit he highlights Linguistics is an “extremely interfaced” land inward which i needs to pay closed attending to discoveries existence made inward archeology, biology, psychology, alongside a variety of other fields.
Despite that, “unfortunately, nosotros volition never lead keep whatever straight evidence of what the outset cast of linguistic communication used past times the species was like”. However, nosotros tin examine the relation betwixt archeological records, cave paintings, as well as the cognitive processes needed for them to come upwardly up. It is from this investigation “we tin shed calorie-free on the timeline of human evolutionary development”, he remarks.
Source: Universidade de São Paulo [November 19, 2018]
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