Friulian Journal of Science 5.2004 (Scientific paper)

Speculations on the origin of language

Giacomo Rizzolatti, Laila Craighero

Abstract. There are two main views on the origin of human language. The first is that it derives from animal’s call, the other from gestures. In the present article we argue that the second view is much more plausible. We discuss first a neurophysiological mechanism, the mirror neuron mechanism, which solves the problem of direct comprehension of action meaning. We discuss then how sounds have been added to gestures and eventually became the main medium of human communication.

Keywords. Mirror neurons, language evolution, gestual comunication, action, semantic

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