Editing Origin of language (section)

==== ''Homo neanderthalensis'' ====
{{See also|Neanderthal_behavior#Language|l1=Neanderthal behavior: Language}}
The discovery in 1989 of the (Neanderthal) Kebara 2 hyoid bone suggests that Neanderthals may have been anatomically capable of producing sounds similar to modern humans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arensburg |first1=B. |last2=Schepartz |first2=L. A. |last3=Tillier |first3=A. M. |last4=Vandermeersch |first4=B. |last5=Rak |first5=Y. |date=October 1990 |title=A reappraisal of the anatomical basis for speech in Middle Palaeolithic hominids |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=137–146 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330830202 |pmid=2248373}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=D'Anastasio |first1=R. |last2=Wroe |first2=S. |last3=Tuniz |first3=C. |last4=Mancini |first4=L. |last5=Cesana |first5=D. T. |last6=Dreossi |first6=D. |last7=Ravichandiran |first7=M. |last8=Attard |first8=M. |last9=Parr |first9=W. C. |last10=Agur |first10=Anne |last11=Capasso |first11=Luigi |display-authors=8 |year=2013 |title=Micro-biomechanics of the kebara 2 hyoid and its implications for speech in neanderthals |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=12 |pages=e82261 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...882261D |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0082261 |pmc=3867335 |pmid=24367509 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[hypoglossal nerve]], which passes through the hypoglossal canal, controls the movements of the tongue, which may have enabled voicing for size exaggeration (see size exaggeration hypothesis below) or may reflect speech abilities.<ref name="Arensburg1989" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jungers |first1=W. L. |last2=Pokempner |first2=A. A. |last3=Kay |first3=R. F. |last4=Cartmill |first4=M. |date=August 2003 |title=Hypoglossal canal size in living hominoids and the evolution of human speech. |url=http://www.baa.duke.edu/kay/site/riogallegos/PDFs/j74.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Human Biology |volume=75 |issue=4 |pages=473–484 |doi=10.1353/hub.2003.0057 |pmid=14655872 |s2cid=30777048 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612035730/http://www.baa.duke.edu/kay/site/riogallegos/PDFs/j74.pdf |archive-date=12 June 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=DeGusta |first1=D. |last2=Gilbert |first2=W. H. |last3=Turner |first3=S. P. |date=February 1999 |title=Hypoglossal canal size and hominid speech |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=1800–1804 |bibcode=1999PNAS...96.1800D |doi=10.1073/pnas.96.4.1800 |pmc=15600 |pmid=9990105 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johansson |first=Sverker |title=Evolution of Language: Sixth International Conference, Rome |date=April 2006 |isbn=9789812566560 |pages=152–159 |chapter=Constraining the Time when Language Evolved |doi=10.1142/9789812774262_0020 |access-date=10 September 2007 |chapter-url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-13687 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061015133922/http://www.tech.plymouth.ac.uk/socce/evolang6/johansson_constraining.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Houghton |first=P. |date=February 1993 |title=Neandertal supralaryngeal vocal tract |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=90 |issue=2 |pages=139–146 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330900202 |pmid=8430750}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Boë |first1=Louis-Jean |last2=Maeda |first2=Shinji |last3=Heim |first3=Jean-Louis |year=1999 |title=Neandertal man was not morphologically handicapped for speech |journal=Evolution of Communication |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=49–77 |doi=10.1075/eoc.3.1.05boe}}</ref>

However, although Neanderthals may have been anatomically able to speak, [[Richard G. Klein]] in 2004 doubted that they possessed a fully modern language. He largely bases his doubts on the fossil record of archaic humans and their stone tool kit. Bart de Boer in 2017 acknowledges this ambiguity of a universally accepted Neanderthal vocal tract; however, he notes the similarities in the thoracic vertebral canal, potential air sacs, and hyoid bones between modern humans and Neanderthals to suggest the presence of complex speech.<ref>de Boer, Bart (2017). "Evolution of speech and evolution of language". ''Psychonomic Bulletin & Review''. '''24''' (1): 158–162. [[Digital object identifier|doi]]:10.3758/s13423-016-1130-6. [[International Standard Serial Number|ISSN]]&nbsp;1069-9384.</ref> For two million years following the emergence of ''Homo habilis'', the stone tool technology of hominins changed very little. Klein, who has worked extensively on ancient stone tools, describes the crude stone tool kit of archaic humans as impossible to break down into categories based on their function, and reports that Neanderthals seem to have had little concern for the final aesthetic form of their tools. Klein argues that the Neanderthal brain may have not reached the level of complexity required for modern speech, even if the physical apparatus for speech production was well-developed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Klarreich |first=E. |year=2004 |title=Biography of Richard G. Klein |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=101 |issue=16 |pages=5705–5707 |bibcode=2004PNAS..101.5705K |doi=10.1073/pnas.0402190101 |pmc=395972 |pmid=15079069 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Klein, Richard G. |title=Three Distinct Human Populations |url=http://www.accessexcellence.org/BF/bf02/klein/bf02e3.html |access-date=10 September 2007 |website=Biological and Behavioral Origins of Modern Humans |publisher=Access Excellence @ The National Health Museum}}</ref> The issue of the Neanderthal's level of cultural and technological sophistication remains a controversial one.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Based on computer simulations used to evaluate that evolution of language that resulted in showing three stages in the evolution of syntax, Neanderthals are thought to have been in stage 2, showing they had something more evolved than proto-language but not quite as complex as the language of modern humans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marwick |first=Ben |year=2003 |title=Pleistocene Exchange Networks as Evidence for the Evolution of Language |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |volume=13 |pages=67–81 |doi=10.1017/S0959774303000040 |s2cid=15514627 |hdl-access=free |hdl=1885/42089}}</ref>

Some researchers, applying auditory bioengineering models to computerised tomography scans of Neanderthal skulls, have asserted that Neanderthals had auditory capacity very similar to that of anatomically modern humans.<ref name="Conde-Valverde2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Conde-Valverde |first1=Mercedes |last2=Martínez |first2=Ignacio |last3=Quam |first3=Rolf M. |last4=Rosa |first4=Manuel |last5=Velez |first5=Alex D. |last6=Lorenzo |first6=Carlos |last7=Jarabo |first7=Pilar |last8=Bermúdez de Castro |first8=José María |last9=Carbonell |first9=Eudald |last10=Arsuaga |first10=Juan Luis |date=1 March 2021 |title=Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had similar auditory and speech capacities |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01391-6 |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=609–615 |bibcode=2021NatEE...5..609C |doi=10.1038/s41559-021-01391-6 |issn=2397-334X |pmid=33649543 |s2cid=232090739}}</ref> These researchers claim that this finding implies that "Neanderthals evolved the auditory capacities to support a vocal communication system as efficient as modern human speech."<ref name="Conde-Valverde2021" />