@article {312813, title = {Proto-consonants were information-dense via identical bioacoustic tags to proto-vowels}, journal = {Nature Human Behaviour}, volume = {1}, year = {2017}, month = {2017/02/08}, pages = {0044 - }, abstract = {

Why did our ancestors combine the first consonant- and vowel-like utterances to produce the first syllable or word? To answer this question, it is essential to know what constituted the communicative function of proto-consonants and of proto-vowels before their combined use became universal. Almost nothing is known, however, about consonant-like calls in the primate order1,2. Here, we investigate a large collection of voiceless consonant-like calls in nonhuman great apes (our closest relatives), namely orangutans (Pongo\ spp.). We analysed 4,486 kiss-squeaks collected across 48 individuals in four wild populations. Despite idiosyncratic production mechanics, consonant-like calls displayed information-dense content and the same acoustic signatures found in voiced vowel-like calls by nonhuman primates, implying similar biological functions. Selection regimes between proto-consonants and proto-vowels were thus probably indistinguishable at the dawn of spoken language evolution. Our findings suggest that the first proto-syllables or proto-words in our lineage probably constituted message reiterations, instead of messages of increasing intricacy.

}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0044}, author = {Lameira, Adriano R. and Vicente, Raquel and Alexandre, Ant{\'o}nio and Campbell-Smith, Gail and Knott, Cheryl and Wich, Serge and Hardus, Madeleine E.} }