2022年8月11日，奥地利维也纳大学
为了了解语音的演变，研究人员调查了各种灵长类动物，将对发音的观察与数学建模相结合。研究人员发现，声源的稳定性依赖于喉部解剖的简化，特别是气囊和声膜的丧失。研究人员认为，声带的演化损失使人类的语音在很大程度上避免了其他灵长类发声中常见的自发非线性现象和声学混乱。这种损失使人类的喉部能够产生稳定的、富含和声的发音，理想地突出传达大多数语音信息的形式变化。矛盾的是，人类口语的复杂性增加，因此人类的喉部解剖结构也随之简化。
据悉，人类的语音产生与其他动物的发声原理相同，但有其独特的特点。一个稳定的声源被快速变化的共振峰频率所过滤。
附：英文原文
Title: Evolutionary loss of complexity in human vocal anatomy as an adaptation for speech
Author: Takeshi Nishimura, Isao T. Tokuda, Shigehiro Miyachi, Jacob C. Dunn, Christian T. Herbst, Kazuyoshi Ishimura, Akihisa Kaneko, Yuki Kinoshita, Hiroki Koda, Jaap P. P. Saers, Hirohiko Imai, Tetsuya Matsuda, Ole Nsbye Larsen, Uwe Jürgens, Hideki Hirabayashi, Shozo Kojima, W. Tecumseh Fitch
Issue&Volume: 2022-08-12
Abstract: Human speech production obeys the same acoustic principles as vocal production in other animals but has distinctive features: A stable vocal source is filtered by rapidly changing formant frequencies. To understand speech evolution, we examined a wide range of primates, combining observations of phonation with mathematical modeling. We found that source stability relies upon simplifications in laryngeal anatomy, specifically the loss of air sacs and vocal membranes. We conclude that the evolutionary loss of vocal membranes allows human speech to mostly avoid the spontaneous nonlinear phenomena and acoustic chaos common in other primate vocalizations. This loss allows our larynx to produce stable, harmonic-rich phonation, ideally highlighting formant changes that convey most phonetic information. Paradoxically, the increased complexity of human spoken language thus followed simplification of our laryngeal anatomy.
DOI: abm1574
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm1574