Bonobos Converse

 Grooming.Here is part of the scenario for language origins favored on this blog: long ago our ancestors began losing body hair with potentially ruinous dangers to the species. It reduced the ability to form bonds based on grooming and it made it difficult to move with a baby who, in previous generations, held on tightly to mama ’s hair. The solution was bonding via babbling and sharing responsibility for the baby. For a long time, the human lineage made meaningless sounds that provided emotional ties, and eventually particularly sounds became associated with specific things or people.I defend this argument by pointing out that vocal-based bonding still precedes language today. Infants go through a period of babbling before they talk and sometimes their babbling becomes quite social. Youtube is full of anecdotal evidence in the form of babies engaged in pseudo-conversations where they take turns exchanging noises. [example of 10 month old twins conversing without words].There is also evidence that a language only flourishes when it is used as part of a social system among equals. Pidgins are languages that are limited to carrying out trade or giving orders. They turn into full languages (creoles) when they become a medium for conversing between peers. Second languages (e.g., the English language today) can become common as people interact with representatives of some imperial power, but they fade   as  the imperial power fades. Second languages only become first language...
Source: Babel's Dawn - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Source Type: blogs