Origin and evolution of speech

• Australopithecus (Ape man)

When a speaker is at the podium our attention willbe focusedonthecontentofthespeech,body language and the way he or she manipulates the voice or how so-called vocal variation is being maintained. Also, we may give attention to the grammar and fluency of his or her speech. But rarelywouldwethinkwhatthe fate ofthe speaker would be if not for this amazing invention called ‘SPEECH’. Even Martin Luthor King would have been speechless in telling us all about his dreams! This article isa minute attempttorevealtheorigin of speech and its evolution.

Chimpanzees hoot, Cocks doodle, and lions roar. Yet those forms of communication are primitive compared with human speech. The difference betweenmonkeysandhumansisnotonlythatwe could laugh but we know more than 20,000 sounds or so-called words whereas animals can make only about 10 different sounds to communicate. In addition, we are the only animal species who can express thoughts in complete utterances or sentences. Because of this uniqueness in speech, humans have become superior to other species in the animal kingdom.

Ability to speak is based on certain physical features associatedwith the structureofthe brain ( Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, connected together by a bundle of nerve fibers called the arcuate fasciculus) and the spinal cord which helps in manipulating the respiratory process, leading to oral motor movements in the active and passive articulators such as using the complex means of controlling the lips, tongue, palates and the larynx or the so-called voice box. The voice box is an organ placed in our throat consisting of the vocal folds or vocal cords or voice reed which create sounds.

Scientists or rather anthropologists categorised early humans to various groups based on their evolution. Following classification was made basedonthefindingson scatteredremainsof200 to 300 skulls and other small pieces excavated on archeological sites in Europe, Asia and Africa.

• Homo habilis (Latin word for handy man, their fossils were found in Tanzania.)

• Homo Erectus (Upright man, their fossils were found in Java, Indonesia.)

• Homo Neanderthal (Their fossils were found in Neander valley in Germany)

• Homo Sapiens (A Latin word for Wise man and fossils were found in Morocco)

With analysis of those fossils, they have reached a conclusion as to what group of humans possessed the organs required to speak. For example, analysing the remains of an early human: rather an early woman whom they named as Lucy, who lived in Eastern Africa between 2.8 to 3.9 million years ago paved the way to establish her ability to speak. Her skull was ape-like in shape and her spinal cord (which is needed to control muscles that coordinate breathing during speech) was relatively narrow. Also, positioning of her vocal tract was not in that much of a favourable position to assist with the ability to speak. Evidence based on those drawbacks in her organs suggested that she had a very limited ability to make sounds to maintain a conversation or form a speech. Similarly, with the fossil and genetic evidence scientists have come to conclusions that only Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens who evolved from a common ancestor between700,000and300,000 yearsago, had the ability to talk.

These findings conclude that the periods before Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens were very quiet, in terms of communication. No arguments, no gossip, no politicians, no philosophers, no family disputes, no lullabies, no bedtime stories. People must have had a very peaceful environment listening to the sound of silence. But then somebody uttered the word “AH”, though the ‘AH’ Counter may disagree it was assumed to be the first word uttered by those early humans which gave out a range of emotions such as surprise, pleasure and sympathy. Then onwards speech began to evolve. For some reason Neanderthals extinct from the Earth but Homo Sapiens spread all over. With variations in new thoughts, new words were formed and produced which were strange to their distant relatives in other parts of theworldsonewlanguageswerebornindifferent parts of the world.

Thus, from the time of Neanderthal to present day more than hundreds of languages have been born and spoken. Also, many languages such as Pali, Sanskrit, Latin, Egyptian are treated as dead languages since they are no longer being spoken. Still there are some original languages which are being spoken in some parts of the world where history dates back from 2500 to 5000 years. Some of them are Hebrew, Greek, Lithuanian, and Farsi. Another ancient language which is still being spoken in Sri Lanka, India, Malesia and Singapore is the Tamil language which is considered to have about 5000-year-old history. Though English has become a global language, it did not originate in Britain. The West Germanic language originated from the Ingvaeonic language brought to Britain by Anglo Saxon immigrants from what is now known as Northwest Germany, South Denmark and Netherlands.

So next time when a Toastmaster is at the podium, we should give the speaker due respect because not only he or she will be exercising his or her vocal cords to give the proper sounds to the speech, but also his spinal cord will be exercising to hold breath while the speech is in progress. The lips and tongue will be manipulated to control proper words, or the correct sounds and the speaker's brain will be transferring the speaker's thoughtstowords. After all,the speaker is manipulating some organs for speech which are primarily made for respiration and ingestion. While so many actions happen within the speaker’s poor soul, the audience will be expecting him or her to maintain cheerful composure and deliver a good speech within Toastmasters norms.

From the moment the man uttered the word ‘AH’ he has progressed the speaking ability in numerous ways. Things like poems, lullabies, songs, speeches and many more have evolved with atimespanofthousandsofyears.Bymaking speech Kings were able to lead people to the war and Philosophers were able to lead people to peace. Mothers were able to make children sleep with their lullaby while grandfathers were able to tell bedtime stories to their grandchildren. Lovers were able to whisper their love. Power of speech can never be measured, and it can be used to break or make harmony in society. There may be millions of histories behind a single word. Therefore be mindful and use your words with due respect.