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SUMMARY:Music first: hunter-gatherers and the evolution of language - Dr. 
 Jerome Lewis (UCL)
DTSTART:20181024T153000Z
DTEND:20181024T163000Z
UID:TALK111355@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Laura van Holstein
DESCRIPTION:If language evolved when humanity lived in Africa as hunter-ga
 therers\, then what might African hunter-gatherers have to tell us about t
 he evolutionary relationship between music and language? The BaYaka’s vi
 ew of the human communicative spectrum extends from using plants to signal
 \, signing and animal mimicry\, through a range of human languages and lin
 guistic devices\, to the employment of music\, dance and other performativ
 e strategies. Unfettered by standardisation or identity concerns\, BaYaka 
 are communicative predators\, prioritising efficacy in their techniques fo
 r communicating with a diversity of human and non-human sentient and respo
 nsive elements of their environment. Different but complementary\, these m
 odes of communication are designed for a range of audiences. At one end\, 
 signing and speech are for an individual to selectively communicate\, whil
 e singing in musicing groups is intended to facilitate group communication
  at the other. Taking a reverse anthropology approach\, BaYaka women’s r
 easons for singing suggest a behavioural ecology explanation for the prior
  emergence of music. The ethnography suggests that musical ritual sufficie
 ntly respects costly signalling constraints to provide the key scaffolds r
 equired for language: capacities for vocal dexterity and vocal learning wh
 ile participation stimulates we-intentionality\, so enabling normativity t
 o develop. These are key building blocks for the emergence of language.
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, Henry Wellcome Building\, Division of Biological A
 nthropology\, Fitzwilliam Street\, Cambridge\, CB2 3QG
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