Firelight and the origins of spoken language

Abstract

Language and fire are hallmarks of the human condition, but most scholars treat them as independent traits. We develop a theory for the origin of language that links both touchstones of human evolution. First, we show that precursors to language were probably rooted in the gestural systems of living apes. Next, we show that attempts to explain the evolution of spoken language in utilitarian terms (a) are undermined by evidence of these abilities in other species and (b) overestimate the need for language to sustain daily practicalities of early small-scale social groups. Instead, we draw attention to the fireside niche as the likely site for the origin of language during oral storytelling. Fireside storytelling could: (i) resolve the conundrum of why load-bearing aspects of meaning shifted from gesture to speech, and (ii) promote hierarchical structure and a shift away from embodied gesture into arbitrary generative speech, enabling communication outside of direct experience and into social imagination: from our distant past and future, to other places and peoples. We examine visual properties of firelight to consider how it could enhance the effectiveness of storytelling. We generate testable predictions to address how firelight propelled the characteristically human expression of language.