Alloparents and Cooperation: The Untold Story of Language Evolution

According to evolutionary biologist Madeleine Beekman of the University of Sydney, the origins of human language are closely tied to the need for cooperative childcare. Beekman's theory, which she describes as "hiding in plain sight," suggests that language evolved as a means to coordinate the tasks of food-gathering, childcare, and defense among a group, rather than just between a pair of parents.

The article explains that the compromise natural selection made to balance the demands of bipedalism and brain expansion was to have human babies born "underbaked" - before their brains and skulls were fully formed. This required the involvement of "alloparents," or individuals other than the biological parents, to ensure the survival of these helpless infants. Another recent discovery is that stone age women hunted alongside men, challenging the long-held assumption that hunting bands were exclusively male.

Beekman argues that the anatomical changes that allowed for more precise control over speech sounds likely emerged to facilitate this cooperative childcare, with alloparents, particularly grandmothers, using language to transmit their accumulated knowledge to the next generation. This positive feedback loop ultimately led to the rise of Homo sapiens as the sole surviving human species.