I analyze the biological underpinnings of human speech from a comparative perspective. By first identifying mechanisms that are evolutionarily derived relative to other primates, we obtain members of the faculty of language, derived components (FLD). Understanding when and why these evolved is central to understanding the evolution of speech. There is little evidence for human-specific mechanisms in auditory perception, and the hypothesis that speech perception is “special” is poorly supported by comparative data. Regarding speech production, human peripheral vocal anatomy includes several derived characteristics (permanently descended larynx, loss of air sacs), but their importance has been overestimated. In contrast, the central neural mechanisms underlying speech production involve crucial derived characteristics (direct monosynaptic connections from motor cortex to laryngeal motor neurons, derived intracortical dorsal circuitry between auditory and motor regions). Paleo-DNA from fossil hominins provid...

中文翻译：

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言语的生物学与进化：比较分析

我从比较的角度分析了人类言语的生物学基础。通过首先确定相对于其他灵长类动物进化衍生的机制，我们获得了语言，衍生成分（FLD）系的成员。了解这些语言何时何地进化对于理解语音的进化至关重要。很少有证据表明人类特定的听觉感知机制，比较数据不足以支持语音感知是“特殊”的假设。关于言语产生，人周围的声音解剖结构包括几个派生的特征（永久下降的喉，气囊的丢失），但是它们的重要性被高估了。相反，语音产生的中枢神经机制涉及关键的衍生特征（从运动皮层到喉部运动神经元的直接单突触连接，在听觉和运动区域之间的皮层内背回路）。来自化石人类蛋白的古DNA提供了...