FOXP2 and possible Neanderthal language (or not)
BBC Radio 4: “Carles Lalueza-Fox at Barcelona University has recently published a paper about a specific gene, FOXP2, which has been identified in the Neanderthal genome. The presence of this gene suggests that Neanderthals might have been able to speak“. A mutation of FOXP2, for those of you who don’t know about it, is the change supposed to be the origin of language faculty. Still, the important think now is the demonstration that this hypothesis should be, at less, remade. Few weeks ago, researchers found the same mutation in Neanderthal bones, and then, linguist community turned a chaos. Could Neanderthals talk? FOXP2 is the real language gene? Were they modern humans? And what about their behavior? All those questions and more were explained by John Hawk in his weblog.
I’ve found it reading Language Evolution, another blog on anthropology and linguistics already linked here. Search and read it! It’s quite interesting!
