Darwin Redux: The Evolution of Music and Language

Tecumseh Fitch, Reader, School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews

Abstract:
Language is a central characteristic of the human species. All normal human babies are born with the capacity to learn any one of 6000 existing languages, while no other species can even come close. The evolution of this remarkable, species-typical capacity remains  poorly understood, but in recent years some aspects of the human language faculty have begun to yield to biological investigation. Interestingly, Darwin's own model of language evolution, which posits that humans evolved the capacity for music first, and that language built upon that basis, has received increasing interest and support in recent years.  I will discuss this and other hypotheses about language evolution, and survey the types of data that can be used to evaluate them.

Discussants – Ashby Dialog on Music, Language, and the Brain:

Moderator - Don Hodges, Director, Music Research Institute, Music & the Brain

Aaron S. Allen, Assistant Professor, Musicology, Ecocriticism

Janet Boseovski, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Social-Cognitive Development

Gavin Douglas, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology

Patricia Gray, Professor and Senior Research Scientist, Music Research Institute, BioMusic

Matina Kalcounis-Rueppell, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Ultrasound Production by Wild Mice

Alan Kamhi, Professor, Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders, Applied Psycholinguistics

Kristine Lundgren, Associate Professor, Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders, Cognitive Linguistics

Stuart Marcovitch, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Cognitive Development

David Teachout, Associate Professor, Chair, Music Education, BioMusic & New Directions in Music Education

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