The Neanderthal's Disadvantage - David Reich

[moonrock]

It is surprising that the vocal tract was still developing so late in our evolution, but perhaps in a different way not so surprising, since there were likely many conjoined factors in the brain and in the vocal apparatus that were necessary before a sophisticated spoken language could come into being. I think speech comes so naturally to us that we don't realize how amazing it is.

[michaelgarrow]

Meerkats, and prairie dogs have a sophisticated vocabulary. Studies of prairie dogs show they make a different sound when they are attacked; depending on if it’s a snake, coyote, or hawk.

[jamesmcinnis]

It also gave us the ability to discern an explanation that was heavily cluttered with pointless noise.

[jennacoryell]

They definitely had language. Whether vocal, sign, clicks... They had adhesives paint and complex stone tools that were uniform across long distances. Way more advanced than homosapiens at the time. 200cc more brain volume. They were definitely communicating.

[notrealatall]

That singer would definitely be offended by having that transition of monkey screaming to him singing 😂😂😂

[swagmundfreud]

Hi. Linguistics undergrad here. I've done a lot of research on this particular topic.

I am thoroughly convinced that Neanderthal language was as robust as modern human language. Neanderthals went extinct because their social groups were so tiny, with a group of 15 Neanderthals being large, meanwhile a group of 50 homo sapiens at the same time would be considered small. There were just way, way more of us.

[racheljensen]

As a linguist, that is utterly facinating. It brings so many questions. One I've always wondered is why the larynx dropping developed, since now we can choke. This therory of language evolution may tie into that.

So cool :)

[sjbbjs]

I'm a developed human being.
Even I understand certain types of grants & facial expressions. No words needed. Especially from the Mrs
Some things don't need evolving or explaining, JUST ARE !!!

[lorashampine]

As a Fantoine, I totally appreciate your clip of the fantastic vocals of my favorite tenure, Johnathan Antoine . Thank you.

[EnglishAaron]

The peak of humanity would be the ability to be neurologically interlinked with one another able to share thoughts, feelings and concepts with a degree of accuracy currently unfathomable for most humans alive today.

[colinsingleton]

I think this clip is overedited. The "weird' graphic in particular was unnecessary, and the transition after the vocal tract was jarring

[Xianne]

My cat speaks a vocabulary of about 25 different distinct "words" and utterances. Definitely a "language" of some kind. For instance he often reports to me about things to me that happened outdoors or emphatically tries to tell me what he needs.
Unfortunately, I don't speak feline so I have no idea what he's saying.

I also once a dog that had different vocalisations for different kinds of animals or types of people (friends, family or strangers, for instance). He even had a clear way of expressing if he was worried that our cat was being harassed by other cats.

So I can easily imagine that vocal utterances evolved to language through many species and surely Neaderthal's could communicate more than just in grunts, pointing and gestures.

[rollout]

Anthropologists: Modern humans are not decended from Neanderthals.

23&Me: You're 4% Neanderthal.

[therealdeal]

You got me loving my vocal folds! What a treasure we possess!

[ts]

As a geneticist I'd like to think that instead, all neanderthals were pavarotti, just fucking killing the arias in a cave

[chookinathunderstorm]

I like how all that great and lengthy amount of highly knowledgeable, scientific and anthropological speak finally wound up with.. "...not just figuring out each... THING."

[burningsandsexploration]

It's all best guess. We don't know anything.

[Xmeromotu]

Can we cut out the gene that makes Americans say “Like” all the damn time?!?

[_K]

The theory of evolution is still a THEORY

[tm-tk]

There’s no way this guy isn’t a step up in the evolutionary chain next to my smooth brain. Always impressed by what these brilliant minds can