Monkeys have the vocal tools but not the brain power for language

PRINCETON, N.J. - The vocal tracts of macaques, a group of Old World monkeys, are
ready for speech. Their brains are not. That's the takeaway from a new paper
published in the journal Science Advances.
The research suggests cognitive differences, not vocal adaptations, among humans
and other animals explains the emergence of language.
"Now nobody can say that it's something about the vocal anatomy that keeps
monkeys from being able to speak -- it has to be something in the brain," Asif
Ghazanfar, a professor of psychology at Princeton University, said in a news release.
"Even if this finding only applies to macaque monkeys, it would still debunk the idea
that it's the anatomy that limits speech in nonhumans."
"Now, the interesting question is, what is it in the human brain that makes it
special?" Ghazanfar asked.
Scientists arrived at their conclusion after an in-depth study of the macaque vocal
tract. Researchers used X-rays to measure the movement of the tongue, lips and
larynx as macaque specimens vocalized. Scientists designed a model to simulate
the range of vocalizations made possible by the monkey's vocal tools.
Simulations showed macaques are physically capable of making vowel sounds, and
could vocalize full sentences if they possessed the necessary brain circuitry.
Human and macaque lineages diverged more than 40 million years ago.
Chimpanzee and human lineages separated more recently, between 7 and 13
million years ago. Comparing the brains of Old World monkeys to chimps may help
scientists understand how the cognition necessary for language first emerged.
"The paper opens whole new doors for finding the key to the uniqueness of humans'
unparalleled language ability," said Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale
University who did not participate in the study. "If a species as old as a macaque
has a vocal tract capable of speech, then we really need to find the reason that this
didn't translate for later primates into the kind of speech sounds that humans
produce. I think that means we're in for some exciting new answers soon." (UPI)