Evolutionary loss of complexity in human vocal anatomy as an adaptation for speech

Nishimura, Takeshi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3800-2194, Tokuda, Isao T ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6212-0022, Miyachi, Shigehiro, Dunn, Jacob C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3487-6513, Herbst, Christian T, Ishimura, Kazuyoshi, Kaneko, Akihisa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3629-1658, Kinoshita, Yuki, Koda, Hiroki ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0927-3473, Saers, Jaap PP ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3209-2969, Imai, Hirohiko ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6957-0031, Matsuda, Tetsuya ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2339-1521, Larsen, Ole Næsbye ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8325-0982, Jürgens, Uwe, Hirabayashi, Hideki, Kojima, Shozo and Fitch, W Tecumseh ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1830-0928 (2022) Evolutionary loss of complexity in human vocal anatomy as an adaptation for speech. Science, 377 (6607). pp. 760-763. ISSN 1095-9203

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Abstract

<jats:p>Human speech production obeys the same acoustic principles as vocal production in other animals but has distinctive features: A stable vocal source is filtered by rapidly changing formant frequencies. To understand speech evolution, we examined a wide range of primates, combining observations of phonation with mathematical modeling. We found that source stability relies upon simplifications in laryngeal anatomy, specifically the loss of air sacs and vocal membranes. We conclude that the evolutionary loss of vocal membranes allows human speech to mostly avoid the spontaneous nonlinear phenomena and acoustic chaos common in other primate vocalizations. This loss allows our larynx to produce stable, harmonic-rich phonation, ideally highlighting formant changes that convey most phonetic information. Paradoxically, the increased complexity of human spoken language thus followed simplification of our laryngeal anatomy.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Journal Article
Keywords:	Larynx, Vocal Cords, Animals, Primates, Humans, Speech, Phonation, Speech Acoustics, Phonetics, Biological Evolution
Faculty:	Faculty of Science & Engineering
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic User
Depositing User:	Symplectic User
Date Deposited:	16 Sep 2022 18:14
Last Modified:	16 Sep 2022 18:14
URI:	https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/707936

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