Physical mechanisms may be as important as brain mechanisms in evolution of speech

Bart de Boer, Marcus Perlman
2014 Behavioral and Brain Sciences  
AbstractWe present two arguments why physical adaptations for vocalization may be as important as neural adaptations. First, fine control over vocalization is not easy for physical reasons, and modern humans may be exceptional. Second, we present an example of a gorilla that shows rudimentary voluntary control over vocalization, indicating that some neural control is already shared with great apes.
doi:10.1017/s0140525x13004007 pmid:25514942 fatcat:7ntkv3e44ngljf4aevmelguhve