Human Speech Evolution Gets Lip-Smacking Evidence

人類語言的進化有了咂嘴的證據

Whether portrayed by Rex Harrison， Eddie Murphy or Robert Downey， Jr。， Doctor Dolittle learned to talk to animals。 But in reality， science has remained some distance from solving the long-standing question of how we humans learned to talk during our evolution。

無論是由Rex Harrison、Eddie Murphy還是Robert Downey， Jr。飾演的Dolittle醫生，都學會了與動物說話。在現實中，人類如何在進化中學會交流的，科學解釋這一長期存在的問題還有一定距離。

Here’s one new clue： a team of researchers in Great Britain have demonstrated how the rapid succession of opening- and closing-mouth rhythms by chimpanzees—known as “lip smacking”—mimics the natural pace of human mouths talking。 The findings are in the journal Biology Letters。

這裡有一新線索：在英國的研究團隊展示了黑猩猩快速張口閉口的節奏，被認為是咂嘴，是模仿人類嘴巴交談的自然節奏。這一發現釋出在《生物學報》雜誌上。

This phenomenon has been observed before in other ape species who performed lip-smacking movements at around five hertz， which falls within a range of mouth opens and closes characteristic of all spoken languages， namely between two and seven hertz。 But this lip-smacking timing connection had not been made in our closest evolutionary relatives—until now。

這種現象在其他類人猿中也曾觀察到，它們咂嘴動作頻率在5赫茲左右，這符合所有語言中嘴巴張開閉合的節奏，在2到7赫茲範圍內。但是這一咂嘴沒有和我們進化有什麼聯絡，直到現在。

“Mouth and vocal signals with speechlike rhythms had already been observed in some monkeys， gibbons and orangutans， one of our closest great ape relatives。 So the last years had seen accumulating evidence that these rhythms—other than something that talking humans do—that this was a rhythm from deeper within our primate ancestry， recycled， so to speak， as a cornerstone for speech evolution。”

“在猴子、長臂猿和猩猩上觀測到類似語言節奏的嘴和可聽見的語音訊號，猩猩是和我們最親近的猿人之一。在過去的幾年發現，不斷有證據表明，這些節奏除了是像人類說話的節奏之外，還是我們靈長類動物的祖先更深層的節奏，可以說，它是成為語言進化的基石。”

Adriano Lameira of the University of Warwick， who led the study。

來自Warwick大學的Adriano Lameira發起了這項研究。

“But the sense of evolutionary continuity toward speech still had a big gap to cross—the African apes。 There was no evidence for speechlike rhythm， neither in gorillas， bonobos， nor chimpanzees。”

“但是對於語言進化的延續性，非洲猿人仍有一個很大的差距。無論是大猩猩、倭黑猩猩還是黑猩猩都沒有語言的節奏。”

The study followed two captive populations of chimpanzees， one in the U。K。 and one in Germany， as well as two wild populations in Uganda。 Researchers observed lip smacking at an average of 4。15 hertz。 They made all their observations whenever a chimpanzee was grooming another。 Think of a hairdresser engaging in idle chatter with a customer at the beauty salon。

研究跟蹤調查了兩個圈養的黑猩猩物種，一個在英國，一個在德國，還有兩個在烏干達的野生種群。研究人員觀察到咂嘴的平均頻率實在4。15赫茲左右。他們的觀察是在黑猩猩給另一隻黑猩猩梳理毛髮的時候進行的。想象一下理髮師在美容院與顧客閒聊。

“The confirmation of speechlike rhythm of the mouth in chimpanzees does not reveal， per se， how language came about in our own lineage。 But it offers the final confirmation to scientists that we are looking at the right place， that we are on the right track to solve this mystery and that great apes in captivity and the wild still have to reveal all their secrets about human nature and human origins。”

“從本質來講，對於猩猩說話的嘴的語言節奏並沒有說明語言是如何從自身血統中出現的。但是它提供了一個最終的證明給科學家，我們找對了地方，我們找對了正確的軌道解決謎題，圈養和野生的類人猿仍然需要揭示所有關於人類自然和人類起源的秘密。”

Lameira also notes that variation in lip-smack times both between and within the chimp groups do not appear to be hardwired。 Rather the lip-smacking variability likely reflected how individual differences and environmental factors， and even social conventions， affect how chimpanzees communicate with each other。 Even Doctor Dolittle might well be amazed。

Lameira還提示道，在黑猩猩之間和黑猩猩內部，咂嘴時間是變化的。這種咂嘴的變化可能反映了個體差異和環境因素，甚至社會習俗，影響到黑猩猩是如何與其他個體進行交流的。即使是Dolittle醫生也會感到驚訝。