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The forgotten role of consonant-like calls in theories of speech evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

Adriano R. Lameira
Adriano R. Lameira*
Affiliation:
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Pongo Foundation, 3421 XN Oudewater, The Netherlands. adriano@orangutan.nl
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Abstract

Ackermann et al. provide an informative neurological road-map to primate call communication. However, the proposed model for speech evolution inadequately integrates comparative primate evidence. Critically, great ape voiceless calls are explicitly rendered unimportant, leaving the proposed model deprived of behavioral feedstock and proximate selective drivers capable of triggering the neurological transformations described by the authors in the primate brain.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 559 - 560
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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