Posted on 04/17/2008 5:03:10 PM PDT by Renfield
PARIS (AFP) - After a nearly 30,000-year silence, Neanderthals are speaking once more, thanks to researchers who have modelled the hominids' larynx to replicate the possible sounds they would have made, New Scientist says.
The work, led by Robert McCarthy, an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton, is based on Neanderthal fossils found in France, the British journal said on its website on Wednesday.
The item includes an audio snippet in which a computer synthesiser replicates how a Neanderthal would say an "e" and compares this with the same sound as made by modern humans.
A study published last October in the journal Current Biology found that Neanderthals carried the only human gene that has so far been linked to language.
This implies Neanderthals had at least some of the genetic prerequisites for acquiring language.
Even so, experts question whether Neanderthals had the necessary biological gear, such as fine nerves connected to tongue muscles and lips, that would enable them do more than just grunt.
Their vocal tracts lacked the ability to make "quantal vowels" that underpin modern speech, and so oral communication would have been limited, McCarthy believes.
"They would have spoken a bit differently. They wouldn't have been able to produce these quantal vowels that form the basis of spoken language," he told New Scientist.
Squat and slope-browed, Neanderthals are our closest extinct ancestors.
They lived in parts of Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East for around 170,000 years, then died out mysteriously some 28,000 years ago or more.
Two main theories have emerged to explain their disappearance: either they were wiped out by Homo sapiens -- the new, smarter hominid on the block -- or they interbred with the newcomers, which implies that our genome today may have Neanderthal DNA.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/afp/sc_afp/storytext/scienceanthropologyneanderthalsoffbeat/27116983/SIG=11pev3eho/*http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn13672
Link to .wav file of McCarth’s simulation of Neanderthal voice (enunciating the letter “e”):
http://media.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/av/dn13672A1.wav
They need to compare how they would say “L” as compared with Japanese
Daffy Duck?
“Tina’s here. We’re getting back together!”
;^)
“Neanderthals carried the only human gene that has so far been linked to language. “
Hmm. Wouldn’t that make them at least related to humans?
“Experts question whether Neanderthals had the necessary biological gear,
such as fine nerves connected to tongue muscles and lips,
that would enable them do more than just grunt.”
So, they have found Neanderthals with flesh and nerves attached?
They have NO basis for that assertion. NONE.
LOL!!
Mark
“They lived in parts of Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East for around 170,000 years,”
How many of these skeletons have been found? What average lifespan? Harumph.
Neanderthal ping.
The Neandertal EnigmaFrayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks Renfield. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
||
|
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.