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One prominent theory suggesting that music predates language is the "musical protolanguage hypothesis." This hypothesis posits that early humans communicated primarily through musical sounds and gestures before developing spoken language.
But instruments and song may be far, far older. In his book The Descent Of Man, Charles Darwin wondered whether our language abilities had started with singing, and if that was the reason for our pleasure in music.
Nov 7, 2023 · This hypothesis goes back at least to Darwin, who called it the " musical protolanguage hypothesis." Basically, our ability to control our voices in complex ways allowed us not just to create music with them, but to send very particular messages—like a very early version of words.
Mar 1, 2009 · The findings provide evidence supporting Darwin's hypothesis of an intermediate stage of human evolutionary history characterized by a communication system that resembles music more closely than language and possibly acting as a precursor for both current language and music.
- Nobuo Masataka
- 2009
Jun 19, 2017 · We discuss the stages of hominid anatomy that permit music to be perceived and created, with the likelihood of both Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens both being capable. The earlier hominid ability to emit sounds of variable pitch with some meaning shows that music at its simplest level must have predated speech.
Jul 19, 2012 · No human society has ever existed without music, and people all around the world commit considerable resources, including time, effort, and ingenuity, to musical participation and consumption. Yet until recently archaeology has had little to say about the possible role of music in human evolution.
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Jun 20, 2017 · How did music begin? Did our early ancestors first start by beating things together to create rhythm, or use their voices to sing? What types of instruments did they use?
