title: [Evolution of language: attempt at synthesis].
abstract: There are at least three traits that distinguish modern Homo sapiens from his closest relatives: bipedal locomotion, the unusual size of his brain and the ability to use symbolic language. To this day the emergence and evolution of these traits have not been explained sufficiently. New research in anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science and other disciplines shows, that the evolution of the human language faculty is a complex field that was influenced by a wide variety of factors. This paper tries to show the width of these factors and to work out the demands that are to be met by a theory of language evolution. After the introduction, in Section 2 the evolutionary principles and their role in the evolution of symbolic communication will be reviewed. Section 3 gives an overview of the results and controversies of brain evolution research, while Section 4 introduces our current knowledge of the neuronal basis of language. In Section 5 the controversies that had the greatest impact on the field and development of ways to solve them are reviewed before Section 6 summarizes the most important preadaptations for the evolving language faculty.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Humangenetik und Anthropologie der Universität Freiburg.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mönke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002508:Cephalometry; D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D003468:Cultural Evolution; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008124:Locomotion; D010700:Phonetics; D011323:Primates; D012660:Semantics; D013561:Symbolism