（外文电子版资料）Kreger D.- Did Neanderthals have Language.pdf

Did Neanderthals Have Language? Kreger D. Introduction The following paper will attempt to propose a reasonable explanation for acceptance of Neanderthal capacity for language, and the probability that some form of language was used for social communication. This explanation will deal with brain expansion, and the secondary effects of brain expansion on the gross morphology of modern human and Neanderthal crania. This paper begins with an examination of language acquisition in modern human brain structure, and put forth that language acquisition, development, and capacity were the driving forces behind human brain enlargement. Language acquisition will be studied in detail and a theoretical model of brain development will be put forth to explicate this acquisition. A theoretical model will then be given to explain how this mechanism could develop the modern human brain. Finally, this expansion of the brain will be examined in light of morphological changes in the crania, and a comparison made between the evolutionary conditions that could select for the differences between modern humans and Neanderthals. The Language Acquisition argument will be constructed in the following manner: A discussion of the theoretical mechanism of Universal Grammar, a discussion of the theoretical mechanism of modularity of the mind, and the biological mechanism of brain circuitry acclimation. Pros and cons will be covered on these mechanisms, with the brain circuitry acclimation model being chosen as a reasonable theoretical model of brain development according to both philosophical and biological acceptability. Discussion on language acquisition will be followed by reasoning for language acquisition and development as the driving force in hominine brain expansion throughout time. This reasoning will be supported as theoretically possible by the evolutionary mechanism of genetic assim