Language has always been considered a unique human character, and now Florida scientists think they know why we developed it: we stood up and lost our hair. All primate young cling to their mother’s fur, except for humans. Once humans lost their fur, babies had nothing to hang onto, and so their mothers had to carry them in their arms. This changed the relationship between mother and child and, as a result, mothers began to create new ways to bond with their young, such as by using repetitive noises like “ba ba” and “goo goo.” “Motherese,” as psychologists call this musical, high-pitched language, occurs in virtually all cultures, and may have been the original form of human language
In a related story, new findings suggest that rats are capable of recognizing human language. Spanish researchers found that rats are able to recognize the rhythms and intonations of human speech and can even differentiate between Dutch and Japanese. Even more surprisingly, the rats could recognize the two languages when they were played backwards.
-Zoe Cormier
Source: The Guardian
