Tonal languages, ASPM, and MCPH. Over at my other blog p-ter reviews the paper now that it is out in PNAS.
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Note: The authors have a website which summarizes their research (via Language Log).
Speaking in tones? Blame it on your genes:
People who carry particular variants of two genes involved in brain development tend to speak nontonal languages such as English, while those with a different genetic…
A post on my other blog from p-ter on the second Neandertal genomics paper. Here is the important conclusion:
...expect some big papers on "sexy" genes like ASPM, microcephalin, and FOXP2 in the coming years.
Remember "Netscape time." Feels like genetics is approaching that in the Post-genomic…
You would think that language as a general phenomena in the human species is genetically prescribed, but the peculiarities of individual languages -- such as whether a people uses a particular phoneme or not -- is the result of historical or geographical factors.
Dediu and Ladd, publishing in PNAS…
For those of you interested in recent adaptive evolution in some insignificant bipedal primate, John Hawks and pals have published a paper in PNAS describing something you'll find interesting. Of course, if you're interested in such things, you already know that. Here are some links related to…
Ladd at Language Log