There appear to be two main schools of thought concerning the development of language in human beings.

Evolutionary psychology
The human race originated in Africa and started their migration to the rest of the world around 100,000 years
ago. Other forms of human-like species – such as Neanderthal man – lived alongside Homo sapiens and
then died out. The reason for their disappearance is not known, but Neanderthal man died out in Britain
around 35,000 years ago. Since the whole of the human race has a language capacity, it seems reasonable
to suppose that it was already developed by the time that the migration from Africa began. Indeed,
anatomical studies show that the larynx moved to its current position around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago.
The lower larynx allows humans to generate a wider range of sounds, but it comes at a price: it brings a
higher risk of choking. However, the larynx only provides the capacity for language: it doesn’t mean that
humans actually used it – but it does seem reasonable to suppose that they did.

The next point concerns why humans needed such a sophisticated system as language. The British
anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, challenged the prevailing assumption that language was needed for efficient
hunting. He suggested that language was needed to exchange information about the social environment. His
view was based on the observation that humans started to live in much larger groups of about 150, around
the time that they developed the larynx. Groups are held together by alliances, networks, altruism – all
subjects that we will examine later in the course. Humans needed to gossip, to obtain the valuable social
information about who you can trust – they didn’t want to be cheated and so learn the hard way that
someone is a cheat. This may explain our present-day fascination with gossip!

This theory is criticised by Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University. He claims that the brain is much too complex
to be pre-programmed in this way.

Empathy
Various animal species, including humans, can learn to do something by watching others. Research in the
early 1990s by Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues at the University of Parma discovered neural activity in
a particular site in the brain when a monkey was performing a task and also when the monkey was watching
someone perform the task. The researchers named the cells found at this brain site mirror neurons. Other
researchers then set out to discover whether humans had similar mechanisms in their brains. Vilayanur
Ramachandran and colleagues at the University of San Diego have apparently shown using brain imaging
techniques that the neurons do exist in humans. Rizzolatti proposed that mirror neurons could be the link
between action and communication.

Interestingly, human evolution took a great leap forward somewhere between 45,000 and 75,000 years ago.
This is the period when symbolic art appeared (pictures appeared around 30,000–40,000 years ago),
followed by a significant jump in the complexity of tools and weapons and the invention of rituals such as
burying the dead with beads and flowers. Ramachandran thinks that mirror neurons may be responsible for
this. These cultural advances ‘stuck’ in the minds and memories of the population because it had the
capability to imitate and understand the actions of others.

Ramachandran has performed studies on autistic children that show that they do not seem to have the same
functioning mirror neurons as the rest of the population. This implies that we use mirror neurons to empathise
with others in order to understand their emotional state.

Which theory?
There is clearly a disparity of dates between the two theories described here. Indeed, writing only appeared
around 5,000–6,000 years ago. Research continues, but the approach we will take in this course is as
follows:

The concept of mirror neurons will be used to explain individual processes such as body language.
The idea of communication being important for gossip will be used to explain political and group processes..