Listen closely to those baboon calls. They may tell you a thing or two about human speech. Scientists who studied baboons’ wahoos, yaks, barks and other vocalizations have found evidence of five vowel ...

Sound doesn’t fossilize. Language doesn’t either. Even when writing systems have developed, they’ve represented full-fledged and functional languages. Rather than preserving the first baby steps ...

Human speech might have a long history of at least 25 million years. This perception has dawned after the analysis of a slew of baboon calls that hold clues to the evolution of human speech and extend ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. We like to think that human speech is special. It defines our ...

In November of 1978, an observer in a Boston institution hurriedly scrawled down a short note that, unbeknownst to them, would eventually send waves through the research field of language development.

To the untrained listener, a bunch of babbling baboons may not sound like much. But sharp-eared experts have now found that our primate cousins can actually produce humanlike vowel sounds. The finding ...