Physics

Cognitive science

Spoken language

Philosophy

Psychology

Component (thermodynamics)

Natural language processing

Vocal learning

Computer science

Linguistics

Human language

Communication

Language acquisition

Thermodynamics

Science

Although language, and therefore spoken language or speech, is often considered unique to humans, the past several decades have seen a surge in nonhuman animal studies that inform us about human spoken language. Here, I present a modern, evolution-based synthesis of these studies, from behavioral to molecular levels of analyses. Among the key concepts drawn are that components of spoken language are continuous between species, and that the vocal learning component is the most specialized and rarest and evolved by brain pathway duplication from an ancient motor learning pathway. These concepts have important implications for understanding brain mechanisms and disorders of spoken language.

Evolution of vocal learning and spoken language