This paper investigates an idea that was put forward (and hinted at in Fitch,2000) by Tecumseh Fitch at the Cradle of Language conference in Stellenbosch,South Africa. The idea is that air sacs may have played an important role inearly hominid vocalizations. Many other primates have air sacs, notably chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. It is therefore likely that our latestcommon ancestor also had air sacs, and the shape of a recently discovered Australopithecine hyoid bone (Alemseged et al., 2006) also points in thisdirection.
展开▼
