U ovome radu iznio sam pregled odabranih studija i rasprava koje se bave evolucijom semantike i sintakse. Fokus je bio na psiholingvističkoj i neurolingvističkoj literaturi. Uočeni su mnogi problemi u studijama i raspravama o evoluciji semantike i sintakse: nedostatak empirijskih studija, manjak komunikacije između stručnjaka različitih znanstvenih disciplina te mali udio lingvističkih studija i rasprava. Akumulirano znanje o evoluciji jezika sugerira da je jezik egzaptirao iz postojećih kognitivnih domena, suprotno modularnim pretpostavkama evolucije jezika. Također, neke životinje pokazuju određeni semantički i sintaktički kapacitet u svojoj vokalizacijskoj komunikaciji. Studije leksičke semantike pokazuju da je ona utjelovljena, tj. ovisna o senzorimotoričkim informacijama. Najutljelovljenije su riječi koje označuju radnje te konkretne riječi u usporedbi s apstraktnim riječima koje pokazuju manji stupanj utjelovljenosti. Ipak, moguće je da apstraktne riječi filogenetski proizlaze iz konkretnih. Također se čini da su određeni aspekti sintakse utjelovljeni, pri čemu su se najutjelovljenijima pokazali semantički tranzitivni događaji, no postoje i argumenti da je i obrada sintaktičke tranzitivnosti barem djelomično utjelovljena. Nadalje, razne studije ukazuju na pravilo istaknutosti agensa odnosno subjekta na temelju kojeg agens odnosno subjekt načelno u određenim tipovima rečenica dolazi na prvo mjesto u rečenici. To potvrđuju dominantna frekvencija redova riječi SOV i SVO u jezicima svijeta, kognitivna istaknutost agensa tijekom obrade tranzitivnih događaja, prevladavanje nominativno-akuzativnih jezika u odnosu na ergativno-apsolutivne te neurofiziološke studije koje pokazuju da se prva sintaktička sastavnica kognitivno automatski obrađuje kao agens dok morfosintaksa rečenice ne pokaže drugačije. Moguće je da je istaknutost agensa odnosno subjekta rezultat načina na koji Brocino područje obrađuje prototipne tranzitivne događaje. U posljednjem dijelu rada tematizira se model protojezika i teorija jezičnih fosila, no nema jasnih zaključaka. Konačno, pregled literature podupire tezu da su semantika i sintaksa evoluirali gradualno egzaptacijom iz određenih kognitivnih domena te da su i semantika i sintaksa u nekakvoj filogenetskoj vezi sa životinjskim komunikacijskim sustavima.

In the wake of limited knowledge on clustering and switching during semantic fluency (SF) in patients with first-episode psychosis (PwFEP), the present study aimed (1) to investigate clustering and switching on SF in PwFEP using more precise statistical procedures and (2) to investigate the possibility of disproportionate clustering patterns across different SF tasks in PwFEP and healthy subjects (HS), as this has been indicated by the current literature on patients with schizophrenia. We recruited 22 PwFEP and 22 HS matched in age, sex distribution, and handedness. All patients were medicated and had a mean illness duration of 1 month (median: 0). Five categories were administered for SF: animals, trees, vegetables, fruits, and musical instruments (60 seconds each). PwFEP produced significantly fewer correct words in the aggregate score, as well as across all categories. The switching rate was significantly higher in PwFEP, but no post hoc comparisons were significant. PwFEP also produced significantly smaller clusters, yet the post hoc comparisons for the tree and fruit task were not significant. A higher switching rate and smaller clusters indicate less efficient functional connectivity within subcategories of the given categories, but not necessarily between the subcategories. Although both less likely to produce a cluster once a switch has been uttered and less likely to produce clusters larger than two words compared to HS, the latter deficit was more pronounced. Possibly, PwFEP might have greater difficulty in processing more concrete compared to more abstract concepts. Finally, our results also indicate that there are category-specific effects on the clustering deficit in PwFEP, possibly demonstrating that PwFEP might show normal performance on executively more demanding SF subtasks. We discuss the results in the context of the hypothesis of semantic hyperactivation in schizophrenia.

Despite both theoretical and empirical linguistics suggesting otherwise, researchers using semantic and phonemic fluency tasks have uncritically assumed that there are no category- or phoneme/letter-specific effects on verbal fluency performance. We recruited 16 young adult subjects and administered two semantic (animals, trees) and two phonemic (K, M) fluency tasks. Executive functions were assessed using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). On the animal compared to the tree task, subjects produced significantly more legal words, had a significantly lower intrusion rate, significantly shorter first-response latencies and final silence periods, as well as significantly shorter between-cluster response latencies. These differences can at least partly be explained by differences in the category sizes, integrity of the categories’ borders, and efficiency of the functional connectivity between subcategories. Switching on the animal but clustering on the tree task were moderately and strongly, respectively, correlated with the WCST. On the K compared to the M task, subjects produced significantly more legal words and had significantly shorter between-cluster response times. Counterintuitively, a corpus analysis revealed there are more words starting with the ⟨m⟩ compared to ⟨k⟩ in the experimental language. Performances on the K and M tasks were very limitedly associated with the WCST. Our results have important implications for research utilizing verbal fluency, indicating that researchers should pay close attention to the types of semantic categories and phonemes/letters within neuropsychological assessments, as well as in the context of reviews and meta-analyses. In order to accomplish this adequately, further research on the specificities of different verbal fluency tasks is direly needed.

No abstract

A vast amount of literature suggests a co-evolutionary relationship between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking, and cognition and specifically language. However, empirical data remain limited to indirect findings of neurophysiological studies. Furthermore, most Oldowan studies have used chert and have not investigated retouch, even though quartz and lava were predominant raw materials during periods of chert unavailability, and even though chert was disproportionately more frequently used for retouch compared to other raw materials during periods of chert availability, at least in the Olduvai Gorge. The study recruited 13 young adults with no prior experience in knapping. Subjects were taught by an experienced knapper to produce quartz choppers and chert sidescrapers in either a verbal or gestural condition. Two raters rated on a 5-point scale the subjects’ performances on specific steps of the two stone toolmaking tasks. In a post-experimental interview, subjects stated which aspects of the tasks they preferred or disfavored. Subjects also performed on a neuropsychological battery encompassing visuospatial, executive functioning, and linguistic tasks. Given the small sample size, the results should be regarded as exploratory and preliminary. Our results are further limited to the early acquisition phase and may not reflect processes in modern experienced knappers. Descriptive data suggested better performance across all stone toolmaking variables in the verbal compared to gestural condition, but only flake quality on the sidescraper task was significantly different between groups. Analyses of the stone toolmaking variables suggested subjects perceived quartz and chert flaking very differently. Correlational and other analyses suggested that quartz chopper manufacture was not associated with cognitive performance. Conversely, chert flaking and retouch were strongly associated with visuospatial working memory, showing that subjects with a higher memory span produced better chert flakes and retouch. Retouch only was moderately associated with executive functioning measures, showing subjects who made fewer errors on the tasks were better on retouch. Specific aspects of chert flaking were also associated with verbal fluency performance, showing, among others, moderate and strong positive associations with the productivity and rate of production of syntactically transitive verbs on action fluency. Evolutionary implications can be drawn from our research only if we controversially assume similar results would have been obtained had we tested early hominins and not modern humans. Following this axiom, our results suggest that Oldowan hominins relied on modern-like visuospatial working memory during chert flaking and retouch, and, to a lesser degree, modern-like executive functioning during chert retouch. This is contrary to previous Oldowan studies suggesting no involvement of executive functioning during Oldowan-like flaking. Results from the linguistic tasks controversially suggest that some of the prerequisites for aspects of action language and syntactic transitivity (verb-object phrases) in modern humans were to some degree present in Oldowan hominin populations. Because Olduvai Gorge hominins readily incorporated chert for stone toolmaking in periods of chert availability, our results suggest that these cognitive capacities were phylogenetically not related to chert knapping. Finally, we propose that the quality of performance on Oldowan flaking and retouch may not reflect the full level of cognitive capacities of Oldowan populations. We provide the first direct evidence for an association between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking and cognitive performance in modern humans, while previous studies have inferred cognitive processes from neuroimaging data. We also provide the first direct evidence for an association between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking, and action language and simple syntactic transitivity in modern humans.

Recently, we have witnessed an explosion of studies and discussions claiming that Neanderthals engaged in a range of "symbolic" behaviors, including personal ornament use (Radovčić et al., 2015), funerary practices (Balzeau et al., 2020), visual arts (Hoffmann et al., 2018, body aesthetics (Roebroeks et al., 2012), etc. In Paleolithic archaeology, it has become mainstream to axiomatically infer from these putative behaviors that Neanderthals engaged in symbol use and that Neanderthals thus possessed some form of language. Rudolf Botha's bombastic title Neanderthal Language: Demystifying the Linguistic Powers of Our Extinct Cousins provides a detailed and very critical overview of the archaeological hypotheses and speculations about Neanderthal language.Because language does not fossilize, eventual linguistic abilities of extinct hominins have to be inferred from indirect evidence. In the first two chapters, Botha introduces this "windows approach" to language evolution and proposes three conditions that should be met for window inferences to be sound. The inferences and conclusions must be pertinent-the phenomenon referred to (i.e., language) should be accurately identified, properly grounded in data about the window phenomenon, and warranted-the inferential step from the window phenomenon to language evolution should be justified. In chapters three to seven, Botha comprehensively reviews the current archaeological knowledge on the putatively "symbolic" Neanderthal behaviors, including putative jewelry, cave art, body aesthetics, and funerary practices. Botha masterfully demonstrates that there is no logical foundation to conclude that these putative behaviors reflect or constitute symbol use (in the Peircean or Saussurean sense), let alone language use. Botha (p. 54) asks: "What are the distinctive properties of symbols according to [these accounts]?" No adequate answer to this question is given in the archaeological literature. It is revealed that archaeologists typically axiomatically infer symbol use from the above-mentioned behaviors, e.g.: "[A]bstract or depictional representations and personal ornaments are the only unquestioned evidence of the emergence of symbolism." (d'Errico, 2009, p. 108). According to Botha, even if these behaviors were symbolic, the inferential step from these symbolic behaviors to language would be an arbitrary one.Chapters eight to ten are devoted to stone-tool-related behaviors and hunting as examples of "non-symbolic" Neanderthal behaviors. Botha criticizes the literature on the relationship between Paleolithic stone tools and language evolution, arguing among others that stone tool production is very different from language. On the other hand, Botha somewhat surprisingly proposes that ambush hunting of large prey may indicate that Neanderthals possessed some form of language. Botha believes that such behaviors required close cooperation between individuals and thus communication-possibly, linguistic communication. Based on these data, Botha concludes his book by proposing that ...

In the present paper, I shall provide a narrative review of selected scientific studies and discussions dealing with the evolution of semantics and syntax. The aim of the present paper is not to provide a complete review. The number of studies and discussions on language evolution has exploded recently and the studies stem from various scientific disciplines, impeding my ability to review and understand the entire literature. The focus of this paper will be on psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic literature which has, however, only sporadically tested hypotheses on language evolution. Independently of this obstacle, I shall search in these studies for potential implications for the evolution of semantics and syntax. The aim of this paper is to acquaint Croatian scientists with the topics of the evolution of semantics and syntax and offer them an interdisciplinary view of different approaches and problems which will provide basic information on the topic to the interested reader.In the second chapter, I shall briefly describe language evolution in the context of contemporary evolutionary sciences and address some studies which putatively show that animals may display both semantic and syntactic behaviors in their communication. In the third chapter, I shall introduce psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic studies which suggest that semantics and syntax are embodied in perceptuo-motor system. In the fourth chapter, I shall portray the protolanguage model of language evolution and the accompanying theory of language fossils.

Recent discoveries of semantic compositionality in Japanese tits have enlivened the discussions on the presence of this phenomenon in animal communication. However, data on semantic compositionality in primates are lacking. In this paper, I revisit the study by Boesch [1991 (Hum Evol 6:81-89] who investigated drumming sequences by an alpha male in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) community in the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire. A reanalysis of the data reveals that, similar to the Japanese tits, the alpha male produced conjunctively (“additively”) combined messages of travel direction change and resting period initiation. Unlike the Japanese tits, the elements of the conjunctive message were not simply juxtaposed but displayed structural reduction reminiscent of fusion in human languages. Also unlike the Japanese tits, the elements of the conjunctive message did not pass the movement test for syntactic constituents. Additionally, limited data possibly point to processes similar to reduplication in human languages.