When We First Talked

[@nicks1451]

I would love to know how humans evolved a love for music

[@Cora.T]

I believe scishow psych did a video about that :)

[@BeatlesBowieKrimson]

I evolved to love music when I heard The Beatles.

[@thebigpicture2032]

Followed with why individuals like a certain type of music and not others.

[@yungjmp]

I bet before we talked

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

There's a vidoe when Attenborough and Björk were talking about that issue, and many interesting conclusions came up.

[@robinhahnsopran]

Hi! I'm an opera singer, and thinking about how humans produce sound is an essential part of my job. The history of the evolution of speech is so rarely discussed, and it's SO cool - thank you for sharing!

[@LadyhawksLairDotCom]

This is SO off-topic, but can you recommend an online voice teacher? COVID has destroyed my musical outlets. I'm not sure when I'll be ready for lessons, but it will happen at some point.

[@gyozakeynsianism]

Cool!

[@EyeLean5280]

@@LadyhawksLairDotCom What level are you at? I can possibly connect you with somebody who can do lessons over Zoom.

[@firelunamoon]

@Robin opera singers are incredible. Both a musician and musical instrument at the same time.

[@EyeLean5280]

@@firelunamoon Well said!

[@thelegalsystem]

Fun Fact: North American River Otters have distinct speech patterns as well! They even have a distinctive "chuckle" that they use to, as one biologist described, "send good vibes" out to their romp.

[@andyjay729]

Parrots name their children. There are some articles you can google; for some reason YT isn't letting me add links ATM.

[@lartul]

Hopefully down the line, one of those species will evolve real language. I hope i’ll live to see it.

[@andyjay729]

@@lartul Well, it probably took a million or so years for us to evolve real language, so bear that in mind.

[@paulawolanski3237]

Dolphins also have a language.

[@NikkiBdraws]

More ways otters are freaking adorable.

[@robertgoss4842]

Eons is a superb program. It's this kind of television that shows clearly how good TV can be. Thanks a million for a job well done.

[@robinali6903]

I am not a fan of the video. It only discusses the physical parts of language. It doesn't discuss anything in regard to the actual brain capabilities of understanding language.

[@archerelms]

​@@robinali6903 And where do you propose that they source that information? Brains don't fossilize often, if ever, and even if they did we couldn't really see what went on in there. And we don't really understand modern day brains that well either to begin with.

[@mattkuhn6634]

As a linguist, this is one of the great mysteries. For instance, we can get a ballpark for when the various features required for speech production and understanding emerged, but did they converge on their own, or did they drive each other? Could Neanderthals speak? They're so much like us it's hard to imagine they didn't, but we don't know. Plus, how did language itself evolve? Some have argued that the first language was actually gestural, more like signed languages than spoken ones. Who knows! But if I ever got a time machine, this would definitely be up there in my list of things to investigate. Great episode!

[@UltrEgoVegeta]

Neanderthals have the fox p 2 gene just like us and thier hyoid bone is like ours to. In conclusion yes based on these facts i believe the could speak

[@hamstsorkxxor]

Neanderthals actually were "us", homo sapiens and Neanderthals had fertile offspring together. That means we are/were the same species. There are some differences between modern humans and a neanderthals, so it might be proper to say that they were another human race. This is unlike today, were only one human race exists, ie. homo sapiens sapiens.

[@johannesschutz780]

​@@UltrEgoVegeta None of those are actual evidence for wether or not the Neanderthals could speak or not. Actually nothing that was mentioned in the video is conclusive evidence, because a hominine might have all those features but he still might not be capable of using those resources to form language. It all comes down to the computational power of their brains. We use sounds to build signs in the structural sense. Those signs have a meaning that is the same no matter where, when, in what context and by whom they are being used. If I understand this correctly, dolphins have names for each other, that is basically the same thing. Theoretically it could be possible that dolphins already have the capability of understanding the world around them and identifying objects, patterns and concepts, which they associate with certain sound patterns and form signs. If they would then freely combine those signs to communicate meaning that exhaustively describes their subjective experience of reality, dolphins would have a language, and they would need none of the features which are believed to be relevant for human speech. That's why I also believe that the Neanderthals could speak, but I don't think we can prove it.

[@mattkuhn6634]

@@existenceisillusion6528 It's not unreasonable, but it's pure assumption, and still leaves many questions unanswered. Furthermore, there's no evidence since recorded history began of increasing complexity in behavior leading to complexity in language. In fact, it's quite the opposite - all languages, regardless of the relative complexity of the societies that speak them, are equally expressive.

[@mattkuhn6634]

@@johannesschutz780 Precisely. Language is WAY more complex than a single gene, and the change to the hyoid bone is necessary but not sufficient for language. Furthermore, speciation is a lot more complicated than just "can they sustainably interbreed," but that's honestly totally irrelevant unless you can demonstrate that they diverged from us after we already had speech, and if you could do that we wouldn't be here discussing when humans first had speech.

[@venator-classstardestroyer568]

First human to ever talk: "We now live in a society."

[@livingispain-e4i]

The second human to talk: "Stfu Dave."

[@geefreck]

“A what?”

[@i2eptilian]

The second human to ever talk: "Gamers rise up."

[@ElijahWalkerRowan]

And the last human said “sHeEeEeSh!”

[@normalguy6283]

Last human to ever talk: Return to monkee

[@CaptainShenanigans42]

"Unga bunga" "Greg, for the last time, no one wants to buy your essential oils"

[@s.f.4553]

🤣🤣🤣

[@shrek8339]

I love this

[@_justice570]

Chug: Ooga uhn booga Jhho: unga bunga gooa boo? Chug: gunga boo💀💀

[@fredriks5090]

My real comment won't submit. KZbin censors people from speaking to eachother. Boycott youtube overlords.

[@andreyleonel255]

"Unga Bunga" "Greg, please, I've already told you that's a very offensive joke"

[@TERRENCEJJR]

First words ever spoken. "We've been trying to reach you about your car's warranty."

[@THEREALGATES]

😐

[@yamil.343]

😂😂

[@ravens_tale]

🙄

[@verizonextron]

👉🧏‍♂✊🧏‍♂✊

[@geefreck]

Some random day a long time ago "hey" "hey"

[@wesleyhempoli5548]

that was after middle english

[@epauletshark3793]

It still stands

[@achka]

"Sseth here"

[@patar6788]

“Oooga” “Booga”

[@martijn9568]

No, they said erectus or rogan.

[@adude8424]

The two first human met, and their first word are: -"Hey Ron" -"Hey Billy"

[@sumowww]

“That hurt”

[@cosmic1861]

Ah yes an inside joke

[@MorrFord]

the classic

[@farmeraxolotlgaming6953]

those are (kind of) modern name lol

[@i4ykl979]

@@farmeraxolotlgaming6953 don’t be that person 😔

[@auroraborealis1060]

Growing up I went to a Jewish day school. Evolution was never talked about and I never thought about it. In college I took a physical anthropology class and fell in love. Thank you for this channel! It has taught me so much. I’ve learned to balance religion and evolution in a way that I feel comfortable partly because of this channel❤️

[@masterofpuppets5072]

You changed for the good

[@vph7]

❤️

[@mosesagabon7152]

Human race dates backs hundreds of thousands of years while abrahamic religions date back less than 10 thousand years. Faith is a belief but not an evidence.

[@auroraborealis1060]

@@mosesagabon7152 never said it was. I had the chance to sit down with a Rabbi and look through different sources and articles on how Judaism can work with evolution rather than against it. It’s just how I feel.

[@ACBmonkey]

@@auroraborealis1060 I feel the same way about Christianity. It doesn't have to go against science, in fact the catholic church was the main funding for scholars and researchers historically, in the parts of the world that were mainly Catholic that is, and same goes for other religions it's really fun to see the overlaps in religion and science.

[@BryanMorgan]

I have a degree in Anthropology and my Wife has degrees in Speech Pathology so this episode has been a great fusion of our interests! Thanks for always providing compelling educational content.

[@huntermcclovio4517]

very interesting topics you probably talk about. like the reconstruction of the pre - Indo-European Language, or language isolates.

[@prezentoappr1171]

@@huntermcclovio4517 borean linguistics meme

[@JazzFlop212]

@@thomasreto2997 macrodose and see even more

[@haroldadams1219]

I love speech pathology! Such a cool profession ❤

[@kentherapy7022]

0:22...Ha...!.....Talking apes...😆

[@talideon]

Another fun part of this is that the sound /f/ and /v/, the labiodentals, are _very_ recent innovations. To make them, you need a slight overbite, which is a relatively recent anatomical change in humans thought to have happened with the onset of agriculture.

[@Great_Olaf5]

Worth noting, that anatomical change isn't so much evolutionary as diet based. Our jaws are somewhat plastic in our youth, and the size and robustness of our lower jaw in particular is highly dependent on what kinds of food we eat as children, which is why our mouths are getting too small for the number of teeth were supposed to need. Also, if you lack that overbite, it's somewhat easier to make the bilabial (approximanta or fricatives) equivalents of those sounds, which many languages have instead of the labiodentals.

[@Amanda-C.]

Neat! Reference? Not wanting to do a hard review of the literature, but I'd take a passing interest in a light reading list, as a casual language nerd.

[@Great_Olaf5]

@@Amanda-C. As for the jaw part, there was a scishow video on it at some point, which likely has more references. As for the other part... Part of its intuition, which I understand isn't always reliable, and just of it is having a cousin with no overbite, not even the slight one, and a lot of the time his labiodental fricatives come out more like bilabial approximants. I do also know from a linguistic typology class that it's unusual for a language to have both labiodental sounds and bilabial approximants.

[@nathanielsobchak991]

Interesting. Don't know who you are, but it sounds like you know ur stuff

[@belstar1128]

That explains why some modern languages don't have these sounds.

[@thunderflare59]

Now do a video on why my cats don't understand the word "no".

[@hannahpostance4191]

They do understand but they don't care about what you say 😂

[@Never_heart]

They were once seen as gods by humans, and they have not forgotten and neither will they let us forget

[@mavrosyvannah]

Oh she does. And still she ignores you.

[@markwelschmeyer2426]

cats can hear almost any vocal sound a human can make but they only pay attention to the higher pitch range.

[@Navigator87110]

I just decided to name each of my cats "No! Stop that! What is wrong with you? How many times do we have to have this discussion?! No treats for you!"

[@holdensanders2858]

Love this. I am a researcher in audiology and am going to share this with my colleagues

[@seanmundy8952]

Even though Steve is currently no longer present, our evolved hyoid bones allow us to say "....and Steve!" at the end of the video every time.

[@mailasun]

Did they ever explain what happened to Steve?

[@mikoajparszyk2169]

@@mailasun he probably just have no money to pay them because of covid

[@seanmundy8952]

@@mailasun I would want to say that maybe he had no money left to give them. My 'joking' theory is that Steve is just some kid who got caught using his parents' credit card to donate to Eons to fuel his passion for paleontology and anthropology.Why else would he not give out his last name? He was just "Steve" to everyone. MAybe we will get an explanation, or he might just suddenly return one day.

[@stevebennett9839]

I'm present.

[@BrotherSkodidi]

maybe we should all chip in on a patreon in honor of Steve! -- what do you think?

[@thenortonanti]

I got a feeling when humans first talked, they were like New Yorkers yelling at each other

[@kamimikuta4929]

I need to make a comic about this

[@Toasty_22]

I'M WALKIN HERE

[@gridone769]

IM GETTIN MY CAWFEE..

[@PinFraiser]

😂😂😂😂

[@kalinystazvoruna8702]

As an ex-New Yorker, that's so true!!!

[@christophergeissler1635]

Linguist here! I really appreciated how this video took effort to distinguish between speech (vocalizations used for language) and language. But it’s important to remember that modern humans are equally capable of acquiring spoken languages and signed languages. The study of our ancestors’ vocal tracts is fascinating and important, but it doesn’t tell us if they were capable of modern-type language because signed languages are still a possibility. - Chris Geissler, Yale University Department of Linguistics

[@agimasoschandir]

[but it doesn’t tell us if they were capable of modern-type language ] If you said "capable of modern phonetic sounds", that would make sense, since it is the sounds that are being questioned. Whether they could understand modern language would depend on them learning that language, although I suspect there may be concepts that their brains may not have developed the ability to understand. Looking at it the other way, modern humans would not readily be able to understand theirs. They would need to learn it, and there may be also concepts of theirs that would not translate

[@Laura-kl7vi]

This is late but I appreciate your comment. Scientists are so intent on speech it seems, this video doesn't even mention signed languages. It's frustrating. Meanwhile, in the US, ASL is the 3rd most common language used (after English and Spanish). There are places in the world that have parts of their language usage in signs as well though I can't recall specifics

[@fleetskipper1810]

Intuitively I agree that sign language would’ve been used in conjunction with vocalizations from quite early in hominid evolution. Finding evidence that early hominids used signing more than studying hyoid bones.

[@KaranKumarA2]

Thanks!

[@nekkidnora]

As a fan of both linguistics and paeleontology, this is my favourite episode of Eons yet. I've watched it through 3 times.

[@s.unosson]

She forgot about the need of a brain to speak.

[@formula1marshal]

Ayo wanna bounce on this no limbs lil mama?

[@TheNinjaKiwi1]

Can we have an episode on Parasaurolophus and it’s crest?

[@epauletshark3793]

That would be pretty cool.

[@jaisanatanrashtra7035]

Also Brachiosaurus and its bulbous nose ❤️

[@Linkfan001]

@Baldhina Asnake they have not. The ram head dinos have been left untouched so far.

[@SGGCREATIVES]

Who?

[@goobydooby4815]

Just think about it, in a million years, we’ll be in history documentaries and history books, it’s crazy for me just to think about it

[@treve.mp3]

If we’re still around lol

[@davidpavel5017]

No we won't, the big people will, but not you and i tho

[@amtep]

Let's first see if we make it to the 22nd century :)

[@bias2784]

If we exist in a million years, we'll be past documentaries and books.

[@HuggyBear420]

Humans have already been on this planet for about 4.5 million years. So you have to use that timeline to determine the next mass extinction. In 450 million years there have been around 6 mass extinctions that we know of.

[@Lincoln257]

I want to see the first human to ever see a wild horse and attempt to ride it.

[@parallax256]

I wanna see the first person to drink milk from a cow... What exactly were they trying to do, exactly? 🤨

[@knowledgedesk1653]

Humans domesticated donkeys earlier

[@SoupyMittens]

@@parallax256 they were desperate ok

[@22daz]

Or milk the 1st cow

[@yourstruly4817]

I remember this vaguely, it was when somebody threw a bone in the air and it turned into a spaceship

[@ninetoedlizard6650]

HEY 2001 REFERENCE, NICE DUDE!!!! Just watched it for the first time about a month ago, loved it, that ending is something else!

[@PaleGhost69]

We want pie! No one? Fine... Civilization it is...

[@korstmahler]

Six or so days before we land another rover on mars with it's own drone attached. NASA will be livestreaming the event on youtube, and I feel that metaphor is all the more potent for that. Not only are we still throwing things into the air, we've got so good at it that we're trying to make the thing we threw able to launch it's own thing on other worlds.

[@gyozakeynsianism]

No that's how we developed nuclear weapons. Same concept though.

[@wesleyhempoli5548]

what?

[@Sciencerely]

As a human biologist, I think the recent evolution of humans has been remarkable in many ways. Besides gaining the ability to speak, we also got a quite unique form of thermoregulation (also known as sweating) and our brains expanded so enormously that babies are born prematurely to allow the exit through the birth canal. Moreover, a lot of people of European descent are able to drink milk as adults due to a mutation which occurred roughly 20 000 years ago and made us lactose tolerant (I covered this in my videos). Human evolution is amazing!

[@Morfeusm]

Oh I have so many questions! It’s so exiting!

[@rogerstone3068]

I think the really interesting bit is that several of the developments that enable us to be the modern humans that we are, all have to happen together. Big brains are an expensive luxury, and take a lot of food energy. So you need team hunting, which requires coordination and planning; and cooking, so the energy value of food is higher. That needs some significant technology and skills being discovered and passed on. But how can you develop those if you don't have the big brains first?

[@TheMaru666]

@@rogerstone3068 And the language to more efective transmision of knowledge .

[@ahwabanmukherjee5065]

Indo-European descent*. My skin is darker than some African Americans, and yet the best part of my protein my diet comes from milk.

[@jamespower5165]

@@rogerstone3068 Somehow that remains unsatisfactory, doesn't it? It feels like we don't really understand why big brains evolved. Language(not necessarily spoken) and required for hunting may have played a role in driving the development of the brain but it's still a mystery

[@beneficentnature9356]

I'm always fascinated at our ability to condense decades of research into a comprehensible 10 minute video. Well done.

[@he-lium]

First words uttered by human ancestors: "Ooo, eee, ooo, aaa, aaa... ...ting, tang, walla, walla, bing, bang"

[@jonathanryan9946]

"...Dow Dow Dow Dow..."

[@universalsoldier2293]

That's my favorite song!

[@algaroththemage]

Alllriiight!

[@jonasweissinger8635]

@@algaroththemage you know what time it is?

[@gaufrid1956]

Ay ay ay, ay ay ay, nganong sakitong man!

[@michaellopez4746]

It would make sense that people began speaking by mocking the sounds around them then using those sounds to relay information. Overtime that would have become more and more complex adding different parts of speech and new words.

[@lwrncjms]

Doubt it

[@ThReverend6661]

@@lwrncjms oh do ya?

[@blacklyfe5543]

I don't understand

[@tlnn6598]

“UGH!!!”......Google Translation: “A time has come for us to voice our opinion on the realm of society.”

[@Arominit]

It's 2021, you can't say "ugh" that's hate speech!

[@nicolaiveliki1409]

In our group 'ugh' means 'what are we eating tomorrow, and who's cooking?'

[@scottlee9373]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🏆🏁

[@illuminatedperspectives2894]

Humans didn’t evolve we were genetically engineered. It is impossible to evolve into humans from ape like creatures. They are two completely different species

[@tlnn6598]

@Arominit - Good Point! 😳😳😳

[@michaelyu2744]

And millions of years later, an introvert like me isn't using that thing.

[@smurfyday]

Even when you write or read silently, you're vocalizing it in your head.

[@Leomoon101]

Same here.

[@teatarou]

@@smurfyday it’s a joke

[@chetanphoenix]

You're evolved from speech to KZbin comments.

[@tomris225]

Same

[@Jackalope411]

I wonder what the first conversation sounded like.

[@amtep]

Probably an argument about killstealing and who gets the loot drop

[@barneyrubble4293]

"ungh ungh ungh oooohhh, ungh ungh ungh ungh ungh "

[@hendilman]

"Give me that." "No."

[@charlesjmouse]

Probably quite one-sided! Or F: What are you thinking? M: ..?

[@gyozakeynsianism]

It was something about McDonald's in France. Do you know that a Quarter Pounder is called a Royale with Cheese?

[@ammattt]

It would be interesting to hear a segway video explaining parrots and other birds that repeat human words. I've also seen dogs and cats try hard to imitate human speech.

[@ammattt]

In fact, swap the 18th and last word; that's what i get for hurrying.

[@chanshengsupremacy8889]

You just made me count the first 18 words

[@tiskfendu]

HEY! I love you. @@chanshengsupremacy8889

[@davidhallett8783]

Animals imitate sounds they frequently hear not human words. Politicians and religious figures repeat human words to imitate human speech

[@Devlinator61116]

Animals riding segways would be an interesting video indeed.

[@ellis1259]

I wish this mentioned sign languages. We dont know if sign languages and voiced languages developed at the same time or if one style came first. I don't know of any way to prove the truth scientifically but voiced languages arent the only languages and that's important.

[@davidzalesak9639]

I think sign languages probably evolved sooner from just pointing and facial expressions. chimpanzees can learn sign language and decently understand it.

[@SiennaBlossom420]

@@davidzalesak9639 Unfortunately, I have to pop your bubble. We can teach some primates some gestures that have meaning, but these gestures lack grammar. And grammar is an integral part of what makes most human communication language. "Pointing and facial expressions" alone do not make a language.

[@musicalBurr]

@@davidzalesak9639 Apparently chimps don't understand pointing very well. Dogs understand it better than chimps. Theory being because they've been hanging around with us for the last 25-30,000 years.

[@warwicklewis8735]

I would say that comes under the heading of body language. Fairly common throughout the animal kingdom. Birds reptiles fish and even insects use gestures and postures to convey meaning.

[@keithfaulkner6319]

Check out the movie "Caveman", starring Ringo Star and Barbara Bach. It has almost no dialogue, but its sign and body language is perfectly understandable. Even the retarded tyrannosaurus gets its point across. The movie is brilliant, and hillarious(sp?).

[@JellyAntz]

When We First Talked? Easy, when the teacher leaves the classroom

[@kylemorgan1272]

What about the deaf blind guy playing pin ball

[@JellyAntz]

@@kylemorgan1272 When he first replied to something on social media

[@mta4562]

i know why, because some guy wanted to chat up some chick.

[@henrg]

@@kylemorgan1272 wasn't he dumb too in the song?

[@bleep4288]

Calm down ya mad lad.

[@josephromano8548]

The speaker has a very pleasing tone to her voice. Which ironically makes listening to her talk about talking enjoying

[@jc.1191]

She does

[@r0bw00d]

Where's the irony in that?

[@ameliastill7105]

In this case the word ‘ironically’ is incorrect use ‘coincidentally’ instead

[@royrowland5763]

@@ameliastill7105 Or "unsurprisingly".

[@forg1v3nn71]

she has that american fry lol its horrible to listen

[@JackthePumpkincat]

Can't imagine a million years later our new generation look at us like how we look at them today...

[@emilyjanet455]

Why is the thought of prehistoric storytellers making me cry rn???

[@TinyTeacupReads]

Sitting around the fire, telling stories to their little children, just like we do!

[@charliejohanssen7421]

Ancestors calling, if you wanna explore that feeling I really recommend the books "The Divine Feminine in Western Europe" by Sharon Paice Macleod a history of the movement of storytelling from prehumans thru to the middle ages and today, and "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer a Potawotami native american book of a botanist and mother's stories that are not only relevant, but pressing us from here into the future. The first is probably the most directly relevant to you but the second leads out of it into today quite well.

[@wahn10]

Oh please, take your meds. It should make you smile, not cry.

[@emilyjanet455]

@@wahn10 hey, I can cry in a happy way! I just love the feeling of being connected through story to ancient humans we will never know

[@ItAbel-xy3xk]

@John Xina you just earned social credit score +10!

[@milindkundal1518]

Really loved this episode 😊. I expected none less from your channel.I impressed my school teacher once in a discussion about evolution😂,many thanks to you. Hope this channel thrive for eternity.

[@nagatouzumaki4628]

Wow

[@thegreatestkhan]

Where are the transitional fossils at?

[@fugithegreat]

I just want to thank this and other educational channels for teaching me more about this. When I was a kid, none of human evolutionary history was ever mentioned in school, apart from a flippant incredulous remark that humans were thought to be descended from monkeys. When I was able to start studying this stuff on my own with the advent of the internet, it has been fascinating to delve deeper into our prehistory.

[@redneckgearheadgarage495]

Last winter I spent about 3 weeks intubated and in a coma. I was trached just before they brought me out of the comma. I couldn't speak. It was so hard to try to communicate without speech.

[@Leto85]

I'm also interested in how other animals speak. Dolphins seem to have a word for seaweed (several actually) and it took scientists years to figure that out.

[@juliettebobcat704]

Of course they would have multiple words for seaweed! But it's cool they were able to figure that out.

[@Leto85]

@@juliettebobcat704 Yeah, like inuit people have that for snow. It's whatever is a big part of your life.

[@footballmx21423]

Similar to the way we have so many names for reproductive organs

[@lalehiandeity1649]

@@footballmx21423Only the important things!

[@ZwamTekMusic]

hey PBS Eons! ❤️ I wanted to say thanks for making these videos.... Paleo videos kept me from ending my life in 2020.... through the facts that paleontology shows that its all about "Survive and reproduce" now, I dont want children due me having a quite severe and complex case of PDD-NOS and ADHD. and I do not want to kids to have my genes... so I stuck to the "survive" aspect. now in 2021 its going a lot better, and you guys were a big part of succeeding to break the "vacuum feeling"... I hope you guys are alright, and I wish I could do something that would help the channel. but I have a very low income, so I cannot go to patreon sadly... So all I can do is thank you from the deepest bottom of my heart and "soul".....thanks for being there with your videos and keeping me alive....if it wasnt for channels like you, I dont really know if Id made it out alive.....just know your videos can safe lives! ❤️ thanks a lot! ❤️❤️

[@annettebroomfield1767]

So sorry you're going through this. Just recognise that you are loved, valued and needed.

[@D.G.M.]

5:10 More like the vowel sounds "aah", "ee" and "ooh", I would guess?

[@ds27315]

Yes, that's correct. It is worth noting, though, that many dialects of English (at least North American ones) actually pronounce /u/ sounds with the tongue significantly farther forwards than the sound actually represented by "u" in the International Phonetic Alphabet (which is presumably what the papers mean).

[@WilliamAndrea]

That was my thought too. /a/ is actually similar to the vowel in TRAP, /i/ is the vowel in FLEECE, and /u/ is the vowel in GOOSE. Meanwhile, the letters A, I, and U are pronounced /eɪ/, /aɪ/, and /ju/. BTW, the reason for that pronunciation difference is also fascinating: English went through a sound change called the Great Vowel Shift where basically, a bunch of the long vowel sounds changed over about 300 years between 1400 and 1700. The most obvious ones are: A /a:/ -> /eɪ/ E /e:/ and /ɛː/ -> /i:/ I /i:/ -> /aɪ/ O /ɔː/ -> /oʊ/ or /əʊ/ or /o/ OO /oː/ -> /uː/ OU /u:/ -> /aʊ/ The transcription uses the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is primarily based on Romance languages, which didn't undergo the same sound shift, which is why it doesn't match with the English spelling.

[@harmonicaveronica]

Yep! Those symbols were in IPA and that's how they are pronounced

[@theholywater]

Yes basically, I was kinda upset she didn’t pronounce the sounds how they’re actually pronounced instead of naming what they look like to an English speaker. To hear these sounds correctly pronounced you could just go look up “IPA with audio” on google.

[@ronjayrose9706]

The most primal of all sounds

[@GlobalInsightsa]

This video beautifully captures the essence of our initial conversation. Nostalgia hits hard, and it's heartwarming to relive those first moments. Here's to the beginning of something special! 🌟 #Memories #FirstTalk #Heartwarming

[@chivalrouslee]

These types of topics are SO interesting! Knowing how we got this place nowadays is simply mesmerizing.

[@Kurzes_Spiel]

As an amateur linguist and a lover of literally anything about prehistory - Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. This scratches every itch I've ever had.

[@Otokichi786]

Ogg: I sing the body electric! Zog: What are you saying? Ogg: I'm just clearing my throat. Zog: Grunt, instead, that we understand.

[@planclops]

This is so fascinating to me as a Speech-Language Pathologist!

[@earthknight60]

The key phrase that's repeated a few times here is, "Speak *like we do*." Language and speaking is largely a mental/cultural problem, the issue of specific anatomy comes in mainly if you are insisting that said species speak just like we do (same vocal range, same tones, same use of vowels/consonants, etc), but speaking like we do is a result of selective pressures on those parts of our anatomy, which indicates that speaking and likely language *predates* the modern forms of those physical structures and that their current shape was guided by the selective pressures speaking and using language placed on them. Language doesn't fossilize, but material remains of tools and such, as well as inferred evidence, can tell us a lot about our ancestors and increasingly the consensus is that *Homo erectus/Homo ergaster* and *Homo heidelbergensis* had extremely complex communication skills and likely language. Did their speaking sound like ours? No, not likely, for the reasons mentioned in the video, but their speech doesn't have to sound just like ours for it to be considered speech. What's important is the symbology being expressed via said speech and the grammar that ties it together. That doesn't leave direct remains, but when a species can do things like make boats (wich *Homo erectus* is thought to have done), has a persistent material culture, makes clothes, learns to use fire and cook and passes that knowledge on to others a very strong case is made that said species has some way of communicating abstract ideas sequentially and the ability to explain things.... which is pretty much the definition of a language. For our modern vocal anatomy to have evolved to the precision is has there needs to have been a *lot* of talking and communication taking place *before* that, otherwise there wouldn't have been enough selective pressure to push our vocal anatomy in the direction it was.

[@anonymous-zo5ic]

Bit speculative but I also wonder if the use of complicated manual skills points towards the idea that use of signs may have predated use of speech? I can sort of see how the jump might've happened in a species used to watching and copying increasingly complicated things others did with their hands

[@aleanbh3808]

Yes the gesturing during ambush hunting, the miming out stories and later singing them around the human hearth - the act of doing it - likely was the pressure in the morphology changes from Australopithecunes to homo (same as tools themselves shaped our hands - plus what we’d exapted from arboreal life of course eg Orrorin’s pincer grip).

[@colinrobinson1924]

Well said. The changes in human vocal anatomy are much more likely to have arisen through selective pressure than through pure luck. Where would the selective pressure come from, if not from incremental development of language?

[@vph7]

I wish I was smart

[@EdJUber]

Thanks, you saved me from having to post this! Instead, I'll be more specific. All modern languages use vowels phonemically, that is to say two different words can be the same, except for the vowel. Think of "soon" and "seen" in English. If the modern hyoid been evolved to allow more precise articulation of vowels, there's a clear implication that vowels were being used phonemically *before* it evolved, which, in turn, implies that those hominids had more sophisticated oral communications than any of our living related species.

[@EladLerner]

It's amazing just how much we can learn about sound making and hearing from new scanning techniques of these old bones.

[@raccoonman6251]

We evolved to talk to tell you how we evolved to talk

[@morganstarchild5359]

Lol made me giggle

[@thegreatestkhan]

Despair is honest atheism

[@Seagull_House]

this is fully unrelated to anything discusses, but i am genuinely happy to see someone with a similar hip to shoulder ratio as me- everytime i see cali in a video i get a little bit glad cos i know i won't be thinking about my own bodily insecurities, its comforting

[@icollectstories5702]

6:24 The English captions contain the first time I've ever read the contraction "to've" (= "to have").

[@rtk3543]

I'm English and I've never seen this either, maybe just text speak.

[@sheer_1]

I've never read it either but I've said it countless times

[@rtk3543]

@@sheer_1 Good point lol.

[@BoeingUSA]

I love learning about humans ancestors and what defines us as humans. Would love more videos on human ancestors! Keep up the great work eons team!

[@mst4309]

When I first talked was September last year. When lockdown pushed my quiet arse into the abyss and longed for something social after all.

[@sambradley9091]

Are you ok?

[@mst4309]

@@sambradley9091 things r good now :)

[@MooGAINZ]

You spoke for the very first time in your life last year, and have not spoken since?

[@Mallymal1]

“AUAHHHHHHHHG AHHH AHHH AHHH AHH AHHH AHH” Translation: “ay I’m bout to head out want some mammoth or something ??”

[@josealfonsozegarrs2399]

I practice my English and learn new things, the best channel ever :D

[@josealfonsozegarrs2399]

@Eastern fence Lizard thanks you, my friend nwn

[@tinkywinky1238]

We are such a weird animal. Apes that stood upright, learned to sing, covered ourselves in complex brightly colored fabrics, and then fly. We are monkeys who wanted to be birds.

[@PinFraiser]

damn, what a quote. you should be a philosopher or something lol

[@scottlee9373]

That is fascinating! The older I get, the more I realize, how little I know! lol Subscribed, thanks.

[@Realatmx]

She: when we first talked Introverts: why 🥺😟😭 🤣🤣🤣

[@marcusabston6365]

I like how she says probably... a huge issue with when we talk about human evolution is bias and wording making it seem like we know for certain that this came from that. In short we underestimate the capabilities of early humans we are unique to other hominids for good reason.

[@Phobos_Anomaly]

What reason is that?

[@marcusabston6365]

@@Phobos_Anomaly We have an arrogance to our nature that we're the 1st to create some form of technology. We still don't understand how any of the Aztecs, Mayans, or Egyptians made their pyramids

[@Phobos_Anomaly]

@@marcusabston6365 Yes. We do. It's not some mystery. Obviously we don't know for 100 percent certain but we can be reasonably sure we understand how they did it.

[@marcusabston6365]

@@Phobos_Anomaly Then explain one of the theories on how they did it. I don't say that to be smart I'm actually curious if you have heard of something, but as of now we really don't know. So yes that does make it a mystery.

[@nathanabella5316]

Ppp pppp

[@heavencanceller1863]

It's crazy how one of us dying now can tell so much to others 3 million years from now

[@jesso.4971]

And its crazy to think which human from our time period will be preserved enough in millions of years time. Can you imagine ... Archeologist: "These humans survived on a neon liquid seemed to have been called Mountain Dew and Cheetos." If a gamer or BMX rider is discovered.

[@haramanggapuja]

This is exactly why I got into linguistics: trying to figure out how all this came to be, how it works and how it changes. Thanks for a wonderful video. Please make more videos like this about the development of language in humans . . . and communication among and between species. Stay safe & stay well!

[@WalterHildahl]

The people who drew pictures on cave walls, also told verbal stories at the same time. Just like we do.

[@hyzercreek]

Those were modern humans

[@thegoosegod]

@@hyzercreek Actually, no. early humans and neanderthals did this as well. Not only that, but recently (2020) they found out that Neanderthals also made physical art as well, not just paintings! They were a lot more advanced and intelligent than we often assume

[@27mgt]

Finally someone is talking about this. I’ve been wondering for years

[@theeducatedfool]

“For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination We learned to talk“

[@or2ak]

Pink floyd

[@Charok1]

so they don't know that tons of animals talk then

[@lewisirwin5363]

There's a silence around me

[@danceatbacchanalia]

The complexity of communication amongs members of a species varies from one to the other. Ours seems to be (for the time being because we like to believe we are awesome) the most complex of them all. What part of any of that suggests that we stopped being animals? It's one thing to adhere to human exceptionalism to a degree (i.e. human narcissism) but another to make a claim that can be generalized to any species with supposedly the most advanced of a trait. The snake with the deadliest venom is no longer an animal then. It's just a snake now without animality. Non-animal snake just like how your quotation makes it sound like we have been non-animal humans ever since we evolved to communicate more or less the way we do today. Do you think that's logical? I hope not. We are animals first. That's our extended family. Our surnames (genuses, species, etc) come later.

[@fsmith45]

It seems like the difference between vocalization and speaking it the ability to convey abstract ideas

[@T_bone]

I love this job! Imagine basing how music sounded thousands of years in the future from finding Bjork's greatest hits, or how we dressed from a meat costume picture from ol' "lady gaga".

[@johnbarnett6924]

Excellent , food for thought, thanks for the post John

[@casper6405]

Caveman: hey look its uk uk Other cavemen: :O Caveman: what? Did I say something Other Cavemen: YES YOU DID!!

[@korstmahler]

And so the longest silent treatment in history was ended.

[@rogerstone3068]

@Sousa Teuzii But that's not really language yet. Chickens have an alarm call that means 'Hawk!' and they'll all scurry for cover. It becomes our-level language only when you start to string ideas together.

[@ShubhamBhushanCC]

Even more important than vocalisation is the ability of abstract thought that gave rise to language. I'd love a video on that

[@deponensvogel7261]

That's where it actually gets interesting.

[@Gebri3l]

They were obsessed with language too.

[@vladimirlagos2688]

Imagine in ten thousand years when they start trying to rediscover when did we as a species lose the skill to hunt food by our own means altogether...

[@thegreatestkhan]

We won’t last 10,000 years

[@OrDuneStudios]

@@thegreatestkhan mate we have lasted about 200k so far

[@zeekeno823]

@@OrDuneStudios to be fair, we're now capable of creating a mass extinction by several means

[@sunskist]

@@zeekeno823 that’s something I wish we had never created.. thousands of nuclear bombs all across the planet... let’s hope WW3 never goes nuclear I just don’t trust humans enough to not. Of course that’s just one one the ways we could wipe everyone out

[@johnjunge6989]

Love the variety of episodes, stuff I've never even considered questioning.

[@nakenmil]

5:09 It would probably have been better to have gone with the IPA pronounciation there, I think? Unless you really meant those three diphtongs.

[@roaklarson9699]

No, you're right. They should've used the IPA

[@ryqd]

Was about to say this in case nobody did. A lot of people use the name of the letter or combinations of letters when they mean the sound, as another example saying "the ess aitch sound" when they mean the sound that in English is usually represented by "sh". But I would suggest to avoid the term "IPA" and just say "how they're actually pronounced". For one not everybody knows the term and more importantly IPA is technically just the written representation, not the sounds themselves, which was the issue we had in the first place.

[@KellyClowers]

Normal people don't understand all the IPA nonsense, it just makes things more confusing if you don't know it IMO

[@severallizards259]

​@@KellyClowers That's why she should have pronounced the actual sounds, whether the screen used IPA (/a i u/) or something "normal" people would understand better (like "ah ee oo"). What she said out loud misrepresents the sounds she was talking about; the English letter names sound very different from what the IPA transcriptions stand for, especially A-which doesn't even contain the sound /a/ at all! (The same is true of the consonants later on, although at least all of those actually include the relevant sounds.)

[@juch3]

@@KellyClowers well they would if she had pronounced them correctly

[@rx-0862]

lmao just imagine some cave man: “Auuuhh..? :D” other cave man: “AHH! :o”

[@LtNduati]

Stuff like this is the sole reason why I both never want to die, and wish I'd never have been born, and I have no idea how to feel about this....

[@robertopettyo7147]

She said ' pretty unique'. Something is either unique or it is not. Many things are rare or very rare. But rare and unique are different things.

[@rowanwild8445]

Among all your videos Human evolution theme one's are definitely the most interesting

[@lonestarr1490]

That's kinda self-centered, isn't it?

[@rob_i208]

Language is the greatest gift our ancestors gave to us.

[@ortherner]

indeed

[@robertperry6048]

I am very happy that we are finally telling the truth about the origins of humans.

[@danjones4432]

@犬のふしだらな女 i think they are referring to science now being the more widely accepted events of history as opposed to religion

[@SqwarkParrotSpittingFeathers]

I don't get it either? Unless this is the first time this person has escaped religious creationism?

[@sambradley9091]

@@supernovamonkey4531 If you think that evolution means we "come from monkeys" then you don't know a damn thing. How about actually watch the video, which talks about hominid ancestors and how we *aren't* from other species of ape?

[@robertperry6048]

In my lifetime admitting we evolved into our current stage was met with outrage and sometimes violence.

[@sambradley9091]

@@robertperry6048 Ah, I understand the comment better now. I'm glad in the current age science can thrive.

[@amyoung101]

Applause! It must have been challenging to make a video about speech while having to talk!🥰

[@ShynyMagikarp]

from a linguist point of view, "while speech doesn't fossilize" you'd be very interested to learn that in language learning "fossilization" is a term used quite frequently!

[@Ayquehambre]

🤭

[@superlumbagoman9370]

It's a pain in the neck for us, second language learners.

[@1800mexicano]

can we talk talk about that pin you've got for a second?

[@LimeyLassen]

I can tell it's a skull

[@leemaples1806]

@@LimeyLassen nah its her front door key. she cant lose it now. ;-)

[@MrStress]

imagine being the first human to HEAR speech from another human. he'd be like "WHAT IS HAPPENING?! Did i eat those weird berries again?"

[@johnjay7739]

It was an extremely gradual transition. Not like somebody just started speaking a language with even the basic words we use today.

[@yoda2495]

"Hey Barry" "Og bog boonga harold" Translation: you're drunk harold, go home.

[@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj]

The detective stories, full of lateral thinking and figuring out how to cross-test data, are what I enjoy the most about these videos.

[@filmic1]

So interesting. Always fascinated by the chronology of the vertebrate visceral arches.

[@ryed8118]

I heard in another video that y'all do read comments. So i wanted to say Thank you so so much for putting out this information for us non scientists. It's beyond interesting and my fiance and i just love watching them together.

[@deetheottsel]

"When we first Unga Bunga'd"

[@karidyssevillano6716]

these videos is the smartest rabbit hole I ever fell into

[@DiscipleofJesusChrist-t2p]

Because the whole thing is fictional

[@TheBaseballer900]

I think this video is very interesting and think more people should see it. I’m leaving a comment for the algorithm.

[@romanszefler7479]

LOL looks like you THINK a lot

[@philophos]

The more I learn about Neanderthals, the more I'm convinced they were straight up our mental peers, and we did something very terrible to an entire highly conscious species.

[@MrFelblood]

out bred them, then used our superior numbers to assimilate them into the gene pool. same with the Denisovans.

[@ayior]

@@MrFelblood I mean, we intrerbred with them, too.

[@Cypresssina]

I think we've likely misunderstood them for years, however I don't believe that we were the only cause of them not being here anymore. After all, we were breeding with them.

[@majimadavis3602]

@@MrFelblood bred+ate them

[@c.bsmith5086]

Don’ t stop. Your shows are so important. Based on sound Science. It is going to be a lot of work. Picking apart stories. But hopefully we will have the correct template for life

[@highfive7689]

Wonderful I love your Documentaries, guys! They are so well made. Couple (or so) of things that I wanted to ask in connection: 1 ) FOXP2 is shown in in whales, bats, songbirds and us linked to vocalizations. Do Neanderthal genes show this FOXP2 or any of the other hominids from which DNA samples were able to be collected? 2) Is this gene connected to higher frequency vocalizations, or wider range, for these species. 3) I wonder if there is link to common genetic ancestor for this gene, or is it evidence of genetic parallel evolution - wow?

[@gunesturkmen]

There is an experiment that involves FOXP2 knock-out mice, in which mice with a single copy of the gene shown to have drastically reduced vocalisation while those with no copies do not vocalise at all. In class we had discussed that Neanderthals had lesser expression of FOXP2 compared to humans and therefore were less social-take this with a pinch of salt. Article: doi.org/10.1038/srep23305

[@johannesschutz780]

1) they do

[@highfive7689]

@@johannesschutz780 Ty for the response.

[@Getschakter]

Our ability to speak is even so diverse that we have so many languages and ways to talk, that a lot of people cant even realy communicate with each other.

[@Kevs442]

About 6500 languages on Earth. About 2000 of those languages are spoken by 1000 or less people.

[@pranaypietersen]

What more fascinating is how humans managed to create the number of languages we have today with that voice...

[@KaranKumarA2]

You are amazing, you speak very positively, emanating positive confident vibes, couldn't help but to keep my smile throughout the video, never fumbled even once and proper intonation and vocabulary 👏

[@NimrodTargaryen]

Congratulations, excellent episode! It would be great to have a single episode on hearing

[@a10warthog26]

“I want you to think about what I’m doing here” Me: breathing

[@epauletshark3793]

Standing, being an image conveyed by red blue and green lights.

[@JPMgeo]

Sad truth, some things are simply unknowable, like the language spoken by Neanderthals. It's amazing how many things are lost to time and history.

[@mgentile7207]

Love these documentaries! The science on this one is presented backwards. "The hyoid bone was this shape, thus they probably made these sounds" - It should be - "Early peeps were talking and communicating so much, that the hyoid bone morphed over time/generations. They were all talking, all of them, and their hyoid/larynx/inner ear evolved to accommodate speech." The low range hearing developed alongside low frequency resonance. Higher frequency resonance = smaller inner ear bones. The speech pushed the development of the bones. The bones didn't "allow" them to speak, or hear. This video makes it sound like the hyoids changed, and thus they could talk better. Truth is, necessity breeds invention. They talked first, then the hyoids/inner ear changed. Modern human anatomy is such, because we've been speaking so long.

[@ugojlachapelle]

As a linguist, it was fun watching all this.

[@DanceySteveYNWA]

Are you also cunning?