Fossil skulls and hominid vocal tracts
new approaches to charting the evolution of human speech
pp. 385-397
in: Jan Wind, Brunetto Chiarelli, Bernard Bichakjian, Alberto Nocentini, Abraham Jonker (eds), Language origin, Berlin, Springer, 1992Abstract
The upper respiratory, or vocal, tract is the intersection of our breathing, swallowing and vocalizing pathways. The structure of the region thus has a key role in determining the physical ability for vocal production. How this region changed during human evolution is of particular importance in charting the origins of speech. Until recently, the obvious lack of preserved non-bony structures, such as the larynx, in fossil remains has precluded our ability to reconstruct this region in our ancestors. Advances in understanding both the basic biology and comparative anatomy of the relationship between the skull base and vocal tract has, however, provided a mechanism by which reconstructions can be made. These reconstructions, in turn, can offer insight into the overall processes involved in the evolution of speech and language.