Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2014 Dec;37(6):567-8; discussion 577-604.
doi: 10.1017/S0140525X13004159.

Phonation takes precedence over articulation in development as well as evolution of language

D Kimbrough Oller  1
Affiliations
Comment

Phonation takes precedence over articulation in development as well as evolution of language

D Kimbrough Oller. Behav Brain Sci. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Early human vocal development is characterized first by emerging control of phonation and later by prosodic and supraglottal articulation. The target article has missed the opportunity to use these facts in the characterization of evolution in language-specific brain mechanisms. Phonation appears to be the initial human-specific brain change for language, and it was presumably a key target of selection in early hominin evolution.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment on

References

    1. Austin JL. How to do things with words. London: Oxford Univ. Press; 1962.
    1. Buder EH, Chorna L, Oller DK, Robinson R. Vibratory Regime Classification of Infant Phonation. Journal of Voice. 2008;22:553–564. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Crockford C, Boesch C. Context-specific calls in wild chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus: Analysis of barks. Animal Behaviour. 2003;66:115–125. doi: 10.1006/anbe.2003.2166. - DOI
    1. Franklin BS, Warlaumont AS, Messinger DS, Bene ER, Iyer SN, Lee C-C, Oller DK. Effects of parental interaction on infant vocalization rate, variability and vocal type. Language Learning and Development in press. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Goldstein MH, Schwade JA, Bornstein MH. The value of vocalizing: Five-month-old infants associate their own noncry vocalizations with responses from adults. Child Development. 2009;80(3):636–644. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types