2012K The evolution of the ability to speak

In this lecture I review some of the evidence for when and how speech evolved. This evidence appears to indicate that adaptations to speech started to occur at least 500000 years ago. I will also show how computer models and experiments can help to interpret this evidence: by reconstructing our ancestors' vocal abilities, and by reconstructing how they may have sounded. Finally, I will discuss the relation between evolution of anatomy and the evolution of cognition, arguing that although we have undergone evolutionary selection for anatomy, cognitive adaptations must have been primary.