{"id":111856,"date":"2024-08-10T12:08:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T12:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/10\/readers-ponder-sign-language-in-ancient-humans-looped-universe\/"},"modified":"2024-08-10T12:08:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-10T12:08:15","slug":"readers-ponder-sign-language-in-ancient-humans-looped-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/10\/readers-ponder-sign-language-in-ancient-humans-looped-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers ponder sign language in ancient humans, looped universe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A sign of our past?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Deaf experimental psychologist Rain Bosworth has found that babies have an intrinsic ability to recognize sign language, Meghan Rosen<\/strong> reported in \u201cPrimed to sign<\/a>\u201d (SN: 4\/26\/24).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reader Suzanne Lijek<\/strong> wondered if our innate sensitivity to sign language could stem from its use by ancient humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our ancestors probably communicated through both gestures and speech, says cognitive neuroscientist Karen Emmorey<\/strong> of San Diego State University. This could be why all speakers (signers included) gesture, no matter the language, she says. But exactly how language emerged is still a question. Some scientists think spoken language evolved from vocal communications like grunts and alarm calls. Others argue that our ancestors learned first to communicate through gestures, laying scaffolding in the brain for spoken language to evolve. But why speech became dominant is unclear. \u201cIf gestures were first, then we might all be signers, since sign languages have all the expressive capabilities of spoken languages,\u201d Emmorey<\/strong> says. Instead, gesture and speech probably evolved together, she suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n