New Experiments Hint Human Language Likely Didn't Start With Grunts

One of the greatest strengths of humankind is our ability to communicate elaborately. It allows us to retain and build knowledge at a global scale, unlike anything else on Earth. The origins of this ability are still a mystery.

A group of researchers set up some experiments to find out if our ancestors grunted at each other as a means of communication.

As the main function of language is to convey meaning across people, the researchers tested to see if gestures or non-verbal sounds were more effective.

Two groups of 30 volunteers across different cultures had to try and convey certain meanings using gestures or non-verbal vocalizations.

A group of undergraduates tried to understand what the sighted and blind volunteers meant when they were tasked with producing gestured or non-verbal communications.

When producers were gesturing, successful communication was twice as high as when they were vocalizing.

Our #languageorigin paper is out @RSocPublishing

Communication success twice as high for gesture than vocalisation cross-culturally (Australia, Vanuatu) & cross-experientially (blind, sighted). Gesture's success due to its greater #universality @UWApsychhttps://t.co/FExsY0icLf

— nicolas fay (@Nicolas_Fay) March 9, 2022

The findings are consistent with a gesture-first theory of language origin, the team wrote in their paper.

The gestured signals were more similar to each other than the vocal signals. Everyone used the action of turning a key to represent the word, but there was no common sound they could use to embody the meaning.

The researchers concluded that gesture is more successful than vocalization.

There were Ni-Vanuatan participants who had relatively little understanding of Western culture.

The chain was communicated differently: by using a pulling action attached to something heavy, and by using a throwing action that represented a chain as an anchor.

It is assumed that our cognitive systems have not changed since it was thought we developed language up to 500,000 years ago.

Simple things like screaming would be universal, so it is possible that humans have always used a combination of both.

Some small studies show vocalization can impede the success of gestured communication. Evidence shows that gestures are used more in non-human primate than vocalizations, and young children and Chimpanzees use similar gestures.

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The research was published in the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.