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Grammatical equivalents of Palaeolithic tools: a hypothesis

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‘Then, fire, becoming word, entered his mouth

(the mouth of man)’

Aitareya Upanishad

Abstract

In this article, language is considered as a behavioural trait evolving by means of natural selection, in co-evolution with the Palaeolithic tool industries. This perspective enables an analysis of the grammatical and syntactic equivalents of the multiple abilities and effects of lithic tools across the successive modes of their development and consider their influence in intra-group communication and the social biology of the hominine species concerned. The hypothesis is that grammatical equivalents inherent to stone tool work guide the evolution of language.

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Notes

  1. In the last decade the taxonomy of anthropoids and humans was revised, since it was proved that the molecular distance Pan-Homo is shorter than Pan-Gorilla: the family Hominidae (hominines), that in traditional taxonomy included man and his bipedal relatives, gave rise to a broader taxon including the subfamily Homininae (hominines), subdivided in two tribes, the Panini (panins) and the Hominini (hominines), that comprise the subtribes Australopithecina (austhralopiths) and Hominina (hominans, just including genus Homo).

  2. When anticipation and planning become important enough in the social lives of hominines, the very idea of death appears in their existential horizon and opens their minds to mythical and religious explanations.

  3. Two disciplines help to explain the evolutionary trends of language: palaeoneurology, which studies the endocasts of palaeospecies comparing them with the brains of living primates (in what concerns asymmetry of hemispheres, relative importance of cerebral lobes, petalias, size of arteries, etc.); and glossogenetics, which deals with the evolution of the glottic apparatus. We know, for instance, that the fossil Neanderthal hyoid bone found in Kebara, Israel, is identical to those of anatomically modern humans (Bar-Yosef and Vandermeersch 1993).

  4. Using this perspective, the proven ability of the great apes to learn human lexicons in a laboratory setting and use them as elementary sign languages (they can understand and display over 300 words, even if they cannot master syntax) is rendered possible since they develop material cultures in the wild and skilfully use a certain number of opportunist tools in stone, wood and other vegetable materials, according to their geographical distribution. Even if they cannot articulate, because of the high position of their larynx and the structure of the tongue, their cultural experience with tools renders their brain competent to that kind of proto-language.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Nathalie Gontier for her strong support, and Prof. Alexandre Castro Caldas, Dr. Brian Hannon, Luisa Lehner and Gilda Oswaldo Cruz for their valuable help.

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  1. Centro de Filosofia das Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Edifício C1, 3º piso, sala 1.3.35, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Antonio B. Vieira

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Vieira, A.B. Grammatical equivalents of Palaeolithic tools: a hypothesis. Theory Biosci. 129, 203–210 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-010-0094-8

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