2024-03-20 13:36:11
From chameleons to humans, including dogs, cats, parrots, snakes and chimpanzees, all animals (or almost all) have a tongue, to feed, drink, lick… and speak! How can we go back to the origins of speech by pulling on the thread of the tongue?
Let’s focus on a singular organ, fleshy, flexible and very mobile, essential for feeding, drinking, lapping, licking and… speaking: it’s the language!
No need to give it to the cat because it is equipped with it like all vertebrates, from chameleons to chimpanzees, including birds, snakes, dogs and us humans! Why is the tongue the most shared organ on Earth? But also one of the least known. What are its multiple and diverse functions? How does the study of language allow us to go back to the origins of articulated speech and therefore of language? Welcome to retrace the odyssey of the language…
With Marion Laporte, primatologist for the “Origins of speech” project including the “Apes voice” research axis aims to understand the anatomical mechanisms of vocal production in chimpanzees and bonobos.
Anthony Herrelteacher-researcher at the National Museum of Natural History, his research focuses on the evolution of osteomuscular systems.
#tongue #shared #organ