Teleology & evolution: Vocal cord development (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, December 12, 2016, 17:28 (2697 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Don't jump to conclusions. We are not 'both wrong'. It is true this research shows monkeys could speak if they had the brain power. But in human evolution marked changes in the anatomy of the vocal tract preceded the use of language as the brain enlarged. One must pay attention to the sequence of evolutionary events.

QUOTE: "Monkeys and apes are unable to learn new vocalizations, and for decades it has been widely believed that this inability results from limitations of their vocal anatomy: larynx, tongue and lips. But an international team of scientists, led by Tecumseh Fitch at the University of Vienna and Asif Ghazanfar at Princeton University, has now looked inside monkeys' vocal tracts with x-rays, and found them to be much more flexible than thought before. The study indicates that the limitations that keep nonhuman primates from speaking are in their brains, rather than their vocal anatomy.”

dhw: I’m in no position to argue with them or with you about the anatomical details. My comments were based on what the researchers have told us, and if they are correct, then there is no point arguing that human language was made possible by changes to the larynx, tongue and lips. If they are wrong, then you will stick to your divine preparatory dabbling, and I will stick to my cell communities responding to the need for new sounds.

To protect your favorite theory, you persist in ignoring facts I present to you. In his book, The Ape that Spoke , Mc Crone discusses vocal tract changes in pre-sapiens human fossils million of years before modern language appeared. He describes what H. erectus speech might have sounded like, before modern language appeared. And if they needed it, why did ape and monkey cell communities fail to develop their brains for speech since you make it sound so simple whenever you call it into play..