Anatomy of Speech and Complexity of Language—Uniquely Human

Anatomy of Speech

Figure 3.  Posterior view of the larynx
  opening into the pharynx (‘tube within a tube’). 

The specific mechanics involved in speaking have anatomical requirements that are found primarily in humans (the exception being angels—1 Cor. 13:1; Rev. 5:2; and also birds—although they produce sound differently).  There is no animal living presently, nor has one been observed in the fossil record, that possesses anything close to the ‘voice box’ (as we commonly call it) present in humans.  As information scientist Werner Gitt observed in his fascinating book, The Wonder of Man:

    

‘Only man has the gift of speech, a characteristic otherwise only possessed by God.  This separates us clearly from the animal kingdom ... In addition to the necessary “software” for speech, we have also been provided with the required “hardware”.’

Furthermore, the complete lack of any ‘transitional’ animal form (with the requisite speech hardware) in the fossil record poses a significant continuity problem for evolutionists.  As Deacon noted:

‘This lack of precedent makes language a problem for biologists.  Evolutionary explanations are about biological continuity, so a lack of continuity limits the use of the comparative method in several important ways.  We can’t ask, “What ecological variable correlates with increasing language use in a sample species?”  Nor can we investigate the ‘neurological correlates of increased language complexity.’ There is no range of species to include in our analysis.

Figure 4.  The complex design and multiple
 components necessary for speech
argue strongly against an evolutionary origin. 

To simplify the anatomy required for human speech by using an analogy, think of a small tube resting inside a larger tube (see Figure 3).  The inner tube consists of the trachea going down to the lungs, and the larynx (which houses the voice box).  At the larynx, the inner tube opens out to the larger tube, which is known as the pharynx.  It not only carries sound up to the mouth, but it also carries food and water from the mouth down to the stomach.  A rather simplistic description of how humans utter sounds in speech can be characterized by the control of air generated by the lungs, flowing through the vocal tract, vibrating over the vocal cord, filtered by facial muscle activity, and released out of the mouth and nose.  Just as sound is generated from blowing air across the narrow mouth of a bottle, air is passed over the vocal cords, which can be tightened or relaxed to produce various resonances.

The physiological components necessary can be divided into: (1) supralaryngeal vocal tract; (2) larynx; and (3) subglottal system (see Figure 4).  In 1848, Johannes Muller demonstrated that human speech involved the modulation of acoustic energy by the airway above the larynx (referred to as the supralaryngeal tract).  Sound energy for speech is generated in the larynx at the vocal folds.  The subglottal system—which consists of the lungs, trachea, and their associated muscles—provides the necessary power for speech production.  The lungs produce the initial air pressure that is essential for the speech signal; the pharyngeal cavity, oral cavity, and nasal cavity shape the final output sound that is perceived as speech.  This is the primary anatomy used in common speech, aside from those sounds produced by varying the air pressure in the pharynx or constricting parts of the oral cavity. 

Complexity of Language—Uniquely Human 

No known language in the whole of human history can be considered ‘primitive’ in any sense of the word.  In her book, What is Linguistics? Suzette Elgin wrote:

‘the most ancient languages for which we have written texts—Sanskrit for example—are often far more intricate and complicated in their grammatical forms than many other contemporary languages. 

The late Lewis Thomas, a distinguished physician, scientist, and longtime director and chancellor of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, acknowledged: ‘ ...Language is so incomprehensible a problem that the language we use for discussing the matter is itself becoming incomprehensible’. It appears that, from the beginning, human communication was designed with a tremendous amount of complexity and forethought, and has allowed us to communicate not only with one another, but also with the Designer of language. 

In a paper titled ‘Evolution of Universal Grammar’ that appeared in the January 2001 issue of Science, M.A. Nowak and his colleagues attempted to discount the gulf that separates human and animals. This paper, which was a continuation of a 1999 paper titled ‘The Evolution of Language used mathematical calculations in an effort to predict the evolution of grammar and the rules surrounding it.  While Nowak and his team inferred that the evolution of universal grammar can occur via natural selection, they freely admitted that ‘the question concerning why only humans evolved language is hard to answer’ [emphasis added]. Hard to answer indeed!  The mathematical models presented in these papers do not tell us anything about the origination of the multitude of languages used in the world today.  If man truly did evolve from an ape-like ancestor, how did the phonologic [the branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their production] component of our languages become so diverse and variegated?  Nowak’s paper also did not clarify the origination of written languages, or describe how the language process was initiated in the first humans, considering we know today that parents teach languages to their offspring.

Also, consider that when language first appears on the scene, it already is fully developed and very complex.  The late Harvard paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson described it this way:

‘Even the peoples with least complex cultures have highly sophisticated languages, with complex grammar and large vocabularies, capable of naming and discussing anything that occurs in the sphere occupied by their speakers.  The oldest language that can be reconstructed is already modern, sophisticated, complete from an evolutionary point of view.

Chomsky summed it up well when he stated:

‘Human language appears to be a unique phenomenon, without significant analogue in the animal world ... There is no reason to suppose that the ‘gaps’ are bridgeable.  There is no more of a basis for assuming an evolutionary development from breathing to walking.

My own view is that language developed much more gradually, starting with the gestures of apes, then gathering momentum as the bipedal hominids evolved.  The appearance of the larger-brained genus Homo some 2 million years ago may have signaled the emergence and later development of syntax, with vocalizations providing a mounting refrain.  What may have distinguished Homo sapiens was the final switch from a mixture of gestural and vocal communication to an autonomous vocal language, embellished by gesture but not dependent on it.