Our social relationships are not only learned but also vary from
society to society. Cultural anthropologists have routinely observed
societal differences in marriage, residence, and kinship patterns, in
attitudes toward the elderly and the young, and in behavior between
the sexes. This diversity is unlike other animal species, where
relatively little flexibility occurs in the behavior of individuals.
Within species, members of a particular category (such as sex or age)
tend to behave similarly. Mammals exhibit more flexibility than other
vertebrates, with primates displaying the most of all. Recent
observations of the variety of behavior among chimpanzees in the wild,
along with the apparent ability of captive chimpanzees to learn sign
language in a number of experiments, have astonished scientists.
Nevertheless, no troop of chimpanzees displays the degree of variety
in behavior found in any human society.
One of the most important factors that differentiates humans from
other species is our ability to communicate symbolically and orally
through language, an activity that, as far as we know, is specific to
humans. Chimpanzee achievements with sign language...are truly
remarkable. Even when these intelligent apes occasionally sign to
other chimps, such a display in no way compares to the crucial
reliance humans place on symbolic communication. Furthermore, what
chimpanzees or any other animals achieve with human assistance is
quite different from what humans, as a species, develop by themselves.
What then is "human"? There may well be as many definitions as there
are human beings! We suggest, however, that a sound explanation of
the term be based on the two criteria previously mentioned: first, a
body structured for standing upright and walking on two legs
(bipedalism), thus leaving the arms free for functions other than
locomotion; second, a complex brain that provides the abilities for
abstract thought, symbolic communication, and the development of
culture as a way of life. "
(Nelson H. & Jurmain R., "Introduction To Physical Anthropology",
West Publishing Company: St. Paul, Fifth Edition, 1991, pp12-13)
Leakey also mentions another language-related unique characteristic
of humans:
"Humans are unique in having a larynx low in the throat. As a result,
humans cannot breathe and swallow at the same time without choking,
but they can produce a greatly expanded range of sounds. All human
species earlier than Homo erectus had a larynx in the chimpanzee
position." (Leakey R., "The Origin of Humankind", Phoenix: London,
1994, p131).
A theologian, Erickson, also concludes that a complex, symbolic
language is the unique mark of man:
"...Man is distinguished by the presence and use of complex symbolism
or, more specifically, of language. While the making of tools and
burial of the dead point to a fairly sophisticated pattern of
behavior, it is language which makes possible the type of relationship
with God which would be experienced by a being created in the image of
God. On this basis, one can correlate the beginning of man in the
full biblical sense with the evidence of a great cultural outburst
about 30,000 to 40,000 years ago...The growth in culture from about
30,000 years ago is best understood as the result of the beginning of
language at that time. This has been asserted by Bertram S. Kraus:
"It seems most likely that Man could not have produced, sustained, and
altered culture without the ability to transmit his experiences and
knowledge to his offspring other than by example." ("The Basis of
Human Evolution", 1964, p282). The biblical record appears to
indicate that Adam and Eve possessed language from the very beginning.
Communication with one another and with God presupposed possession of
language." (Erickson M.J., "Christian Theology", Baker: Grand Rapids
Mi, 1985, pp485-486).
Perhaps the crazed obsession with waking up at 5am to send a string of
ASCII characters around the world to people one is never likely to
meet, is the mark of a new species: Homo sapiens cyberneticii? :-)
Happy New Year!
Stephen