Songbird study provides concrete measure of biology's impact on culture
Monday, May 4, 2009 - 03:14
in Paleontology & Archaeology
During infancy, each of us emerges from a delightful but largely incoherent babble of syllables and learns to speak - normally, in the language of those who care for us. But imagine what would happen if we were somehow raised in utter isolation from other people, not only our parents but also from surrogates such as nurses and nannies. What sort of culture might we evolve if reared in isolation? Would we learn to speak? Would such a language evolve over multiple generations? If so, would it eventually resemble existing ones?...